British master papermaker James Cropper leveraged its 175-year heritage to innovate the world’s first recycling process, called CupCycling, to upcycle used takeaway coffee cups. This unique post-consumer fiber stream gives a second life to a valuable resource and is designed with circular economy principles at the core.

“While beauty and functionality have always been expected of luxury products, today’s consumers also insist they are environmentally and socially responsible,” Tricia Hartmann, packaging lead at James Cropper, comments. “Those same high standards applied to the product itself, now also extend to the entire supply chain, including the packaging.”

2.5 billion cups are thrown away each year in the UK—the polyethylene coating of coffee cups means that they are only recyclable through specialist facilities. The James Cropper CupCycling facility removes the plastic lining during the process, meaning that 95% of the cup waste can be converted back into paper and the remaining 5% of plastic is used for energy recovery in the production of recycled paper.

An example of the work the business is doing to create value from this waste stream is the closed-loop collaboration with British retailer Selfridges, where cups from the brand’s own offices and retail outlets are transformed into paper for its iconic yellow shopping bags.

“With our partners James Cropper and Veolia, we can take coffee cups, a waste product of ours, and transform it into our yellow kraft bag, thereby closing the loop on that particular waste stream. Not only that, but the bags can still be recycled for years to come. We’re proud to be the first retailer to upcycle our cups in this way. Our customers are becoming ever more aware of global waste issues and I think our customers will appreciate the story behind the bag,” said Chris Brant, Director for Retail Projects and FM at Selfridges.

Working with supply chain partners and brands who care about the environment, James Cropper can give coffee cups a second life, turning them into beautiful papers and packaging.

Dominic Paul, Managing Director of Costa Coffee, said, “Without technology like James Cropper CupCycling Costa would not have been able to accelerate our cup recycling scheme, allowing us to commit to recycling the same volume of cups we put on to the market each year by 2020.”