Selfridges to recycle coffee cups to make shopping bags
Selfridges is to recycle disposable coffee cups generated at its Oxford Street store and headquarters then use the resulting paper to create its iconic yellow shopping bags.
The used cups from the retailer’s food hall and offices will be ‘tipped, flipped and stacked’ to ensure that any remaining liquid is drained, then the lid, sleeve and cup will be separated. They will then be further processed, checked for quality and baled by environmental solutions provider Veolia, before being delivered to paper manufacturer James Cropper for reprocessing at its innovative CupCycling plant.
The cups will be upcycled into paper that will then be converted into the yellow shopping bags, with the final product containing 20% cup fibre, meaning one large bag will contain the equivalent of an 8oz cup.
The bags will display the CupCycling logo and after use will be able to be recycled in the standard paper waste stream.
Chris Brant, director of retail projects and FM at Selfridges, said: “As part of our ‘Buying Better, Inspiring Change’ approach, we are constantly looking for new ways to make our business more efficient.
“With our partners James Cropper and Veolia, we can take coffee cups, a waste product of ours, and transform them into our yellow kraft bags, 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 they will appreciate the story behind the bag.”
