Every year, millions of single-use plastic cups pile up as waste from European events, creating significant environmental challenges. While initiatives to phase out these disposables have gained momentum, the question of what comes next remains un-answered.
The transition to reusable cups has already had a measurable impact, reducing event-related carbon footprints and lowering overall waste generation. Yet, these solutions true potential still remain untapped.
The elephant in the room is what happens at the end of a reusable cup’s lifecycle.
Currently, many reusable cups either linger unused or are discarded without entering proper recycling systems. This disrupts the very principles of sustainability that reusables aim to uphold. By failing to complete the recycling loop, the industry misses out on an opportunity to transform waste into resources, undermining the circular economy model.
Closing this gap requires a multi-pronged approach, meshing optimised collection systems, innovative recycling technologies, and enhanced collaboration across stakeholders. Starting with event organisers through to recycling facilities and policy makers, everyone has a role to play in ensuring reusable cups fulfill their potential, going beyond being a short-term solution, to becoming a cornerstone of sustainable event management in Europe.
It was this concept that inspired Rubbish Reusables to join NEXTLOOPP’s cutting-edge project, which proposed approaching stadiums’ carbon challenge through a circularity rather than recycling lens. This new roadmap focused on stadiums closing the loop on all their single-use and reusable food-contact products.
The current solution most stadiums favour is reusability and this does reduce their reliance on single-use cups made from virgin polymers, it also addresses the issue of plastic litter. But the fact remains that this strategy only addresses the tip of the stadium cups’ iceberg.
Reusable cups are currently made from the same virgin plastic, Polypropylene, as the single use disposables they are meant to replace.
In fact the reusable cups use even more material as they are designed to be sturdier to last longer for reuse. This would still be a better option if the cups were re-used enough times, however currently they often fail to meet this target as cups are broken, lost, or taken home by consumers as souvenirs.
Reusable cup companies have for too long hidden or even encouraged this problem, undermining the environmental benefits of the product. A reusable product is only reusable with a good reuse system that achieves a high return and reuse rate, otherwise they are simply heavy duty disposables with a worse impact.
If being made from virgin plastic wasn’t bad enough, then the end of life story isn’t much better. Current reusables are lucky if they get downcycled into a crate or shipping pallet, with most disappearing into landfill or incinerators.
Transitioning the reusable cup to become a recycled reusable cup starts with capturing the cups in a closed loop system to generate a ready stream of material to turn back into high-quality food-grade PP recyclates. In this scenario end-of-life reusable cups could be turned back into any number of the food-contact products events use, from cutlery and plates to trays and cups.
Since joining NEXTLOOPP Rubbish Reusables have been tapping into the collaborative project’s expertise to recycle reusable cups back into quality resins that can be blended into new reusable cups.
To achieve this they have been trialling a range of reusable cups made using NEXTLOOPP’s unique decontamination technology to turn them back into high quality food-grade recycled polypropylene (FgrPP).
Recent trials of these cups using 30% FgrPP were very successful with no processing issues, no odour detected and the end result requiring minimal correction to achieve a visually appealing product.
As trials continue to progress it is vital to re-frame the current definition of recycling. It is not sufficient to merely recycle as this generally means turning a product into low quality recyclates, which as a consequence can only be turned into low-value products. Currently recycling rates for plastics are approximately 10% of overall plastics consumption. The crucial factor is that there shouldn’t be a shortage of feedstock given that 19 Mtpa goes to landfill or waste to energy operations. Closing the loop on reusable stadium cups ensures this valuable material is not lost to low-value products and delivers a food-quality recyclate that can be used in the production of new reusable cups.
This article was co-authored by Dr Jon Mitchell of NEXTLOOPP; and Lars van den Bogaart of Rubbish Reusables.
__
Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest innovation news and more sent to your inbox.
Professor Kosior’s expertise in the plastics recycling sector spans 46 years, split between 23 years as an academic and 23 years working in plastic packaging recycling. He has been instrumental in designing numerous modern recycling plants and has achieved a number of patented recycling breakthroughs. In 2004 Professor Kosior founded Nextek Ltd to provide consultancy services to assist in the strategic approaches to sustainable packaging, waste reduction and minimal life cycle impact. He is involved with many industry associations, universities, and research organisations and is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineering and Fellow of the Institute of Materials which awarded him the Prince Philip Medal for “Polymers in the Service of Man” in 2019. He also provides support to organisations such as the Earth Champions Foundation, Plastics Oceans, PEW Foundation Trust on the Project: Stopping Ocean Plastics.
