driving paper cup recycling: in cities

cup movement in glasgow​

Who's involved?
Cup Movement in Glasgow is an ambitious city-wide initiative to reduce the impact of single use cups in Scotland by working with those who sell, buy and use them to find solutions for reuse, recycling and litter reduction.
The campaign was launched in January 2019 by Keep Scotland Beautiful and has received backing from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, transport providers including ScotRail and Glasgow Airport to major employers such as Scottish Power, Jacobs and MacRoberts, shopping centres, supply chain companies and entertainment organisations.
Cup Movement is working with Glasgow city council and five of the city’s biggest coffee chains – Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Greggs, Pret and Starbucks (who are all PCRRG members) – to increase awareness of in-store recycling facilities, encouraging consumers to recycle their cups wherever possible.
In-store messaging is used alongside posters in the city centre and stickers on recycling and waste bins. Working with recycling partners Simply Cups and Scotwaste, Keep Scotland Beautiful has established the first dedicated cup collection and recycling service in Scotland, the first of many steps in tacking the recycling of the 500 million paper cups used in Scotland every year. 
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What's the impact?
Keep Scotland Beautiful estimates that the campaign has already reached around 10 million paper cup users and saved more than 300,000 used coffee cups from going to landfill. The Scottish Government is to work with Cup Movement to fully assess the progress of the initiative, hoping to translate the lessons to be learnt from Glasgow right across Scotland.
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“The support of the PCRRG has been critical in the success of this pioneering city-wide initiative. Cup Movement’s engaging messaging on-street and in-store, combined with the availability of recycling points, is key to reducing cup waste at a city level.”
Catherine Gee, Operations Director, Keep Scotland Beautiful 

​Where next?
In recent months many schemes have been rolled out in public locations such as Leeds, Edinburgh, Swansea, Nottingham, Westminster City Council, Gatwick Airport, Shrewsbury, Bristol, London (Brixton, Camden, Southbank, Grosvenor estate and three London universities), Glasgow, Gloucester Services, Teebay Services, Cumbria, York, Northampton and Oxford City Council.
The PCRRG is working closely with all of the organisations involved to understand how to make the programme successful throughout the country and to see whether there are any lessons to be learned for the wider recycling sector. 
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​How to get involved: If you are a retailer, FM provider or in charge of a large site such as a city centre, university or transport hub, there are a number of organisations that can help you get started with coffee cup recycling. Suggestions can be found at www.cuprecyclingscheme.co.uk or contact the PCRRG who will happily signpost you: www.prcrrg.uk