How Recyclable are Paper Cups?

So you have orgaised an event using various catering supplies that include paper cups, you make sure they are all collected seperately after use and taken to the waste paper station. What will happen to these? Good question.

As covered in my previous posts, Paper Cups can either be wax or PLA coated. PLA coated cups can be very difficult to process without specialist equipment, this often results in the surpossed recycling being discarded and ending up in the landfill. The situation is slightly different with wax coated cups as these can be recycled without sorting, however it relys on the recycling station having a buyer for low grade reconstituted paper that does not mind small amounts of wax in their raw materials stream.

As you have probably guessed, the efficiency of recycling efforts with coated paper cups differs greatly depending on the facilities and arrangements of your local recycling centre. The bottom line is that if you want to be absolutely sure that your waste will not be wasted, you need to ask if the facilities can and will explicitely handle your particular brand of disposables.