Small businesses now have the opportunity to take part in Detpak’s award-winning RecycleMe coffee cup recycling system with the launch of its new collection bag service.¹ For low-use environments that don’t have a high turnover of coffee cups, such as small cafes, offices and schools, the new service offers the opportunity to take part in the circular economy by ensuring their coffee cups are recycled into new paper products.

How does it work?

Detpak has partnered with Parcelpoint to make the service as easy and accessible as possible. For a flat fee, the collection bags can be dropped off at any of Parcelpoint’s 1,400 locations across Australia. Alternatively, the user can have the bag picked up directly through a courier service.

The collection bag service can also be used to return the coffee cup lids for recycling into new plastic products, such as picture frames. Each bag holds up to 250 cups or 1,000 lids. Users can purchase the bags online and then return them once they are full, where the contents will be sent to Detpak’s industry partner, Shred-X, for recycling.

What is RecycleMe?

Currently, common coffee cups are not accepted for recycling and are sent to landfill. With industry estimates of one billion disposable coffee cups being sent to landfill or littered each year, Detpak took on the challenge of creating a coffee cup that can be recycled using existing infrastructure. Due to its special lining, RecycleMe coffee cups can be processed using the current recycling infrastructure when they are collected through the RecycleMe recycling system.

For users that have a high turnover of coffee cups, such as restaurants, university campuses or hospitals, dedicated collection bins designed to keep the cups dry are placed within the building for customers to return their cups and lids to. Back-of-house collection bins are also available for consolidation of the cups and lids. The system is rolled out with a supporting education resource for customers and staff to ensure consumers understand that the cup must be disposed of in a dedicated RecycleMe collection bin to guarantee it is recycled. 

RecycleMe is backed by Detpak and Shred-X to offer ongoing distribution and collection of the cups. Shred-X already has more than 50,000 collection locations across Australia. Almost 100 outlets have signed up to the RecycleMe recycling system worldwide and more than a million RecycleMe coffee cups have already been collected for recycling.

Why does Planet Ark endorse the RecycleMe collection system?

Planet Ark only endorses products and systems that meet strict standards in regard to their environmental outcomes, quality of the product or program, health benefits and cost-effectiveness. We follow the waste hierarchy, which encourages consumers to firstly avoid, reduce and reuse before recycling. However, we appreciate that not everyone will have the opportunity or time to sit down for a coffee in the shop or bring along a reusable cup every day. The award-winning RecycleMe recycling system offers an end-to-end environmental solution for both the cup and the lid that guarantees every cup and lid collected will be recycled.

Positive actions

• If you are interested in implementing the RecycleMe recycling system in your business or workplace, send us an enquiry with some details about your organisation.
• If you’re interested in finding a participating business near you, have a look at this list of RecycleMe collection points throughout Australia.  
• Businesses and workplaces can take part in the circular economy by purchasing recycled paper products, such as 100% recycled and FSC certified Planet Ark Paper.

 

¹The RecycleMe System was recognised with the 2018 Sustainable Packaging Excellence Award by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).