Project launched in Brixton aims to recycle 150,000 coffee cups in first year

A new coffee cup recycling programme has launched in Brixton as part of The Cup Fund – the UK’s largest grant fund to boost and scale up coffee cup recycling across the country.

Brixton is the first town centre in Lambeth to introduce a coffee cup recycling scheme.

The project, which is being launched by Brixton BID in partnership with First Mile and Lambeth council, will see new brightly coloured coffee cup recycling bins in 15 independent coffee shops across the town centre. The project aims to recycle 150,000 cups in its first year.

New research by the environmental charity, Hubbub, reveals the public are still confused about paper cup recycling, as three out of four people wrongly believe that paper cups can be recycled in the same way as other paper and card.

However, because cups have a plastic lining that stops hot drinks from leaking, they need to be collected separately from other paper goods.

The Cup Fund was established to meet this need and is the UK’s largest grant fund to bolster and scale paper cup recycling. The London programmes represent five of the 12 schemes across the country selected to receive grants of between £50,000 and £100,000 to develop long-term infrastructure.

The Cup Fund is financed by Starbucks, from the 5p charge introduced on paper cups in 2018, to encourage customers to increase their use of reusable cups and avoid the charge.

Brixton BID will also be installing 32 lamp post banners, to further encourage people in Brixton to recycle, reuse, refill and reduce waste.

These banners will not only highlight coffee cup recycling but will cover plastic bottles and food waste also.

Pictured top are, from left, Gianluca Rizzo (Brixton BID), Cllr Claire Holland, Michael Smith (Brixton BID) and Cllr Irfan Mohammed