Defra’s paper cup takeback delay leaves recycling scheme members disappointed

04 Aug 2023 --- After recently deferring extended producer responsibility (EPR) payments by a year, the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has now also delayed the introduction of a mandatory paper cup takeback scheme.

“The delay to 2025 will ensure sufficient time for cup sellers to prepare for the introduction of the regulations. We will use this time to build on the current voluntary National Cup Recycling Scheme and ensure a smooth transition to the mandatory regulations,” a Defra spokesperson tells Packaging Insights.

“We will soon launch an engagement program to work with businesses and waste management companies on the development of the Cups Takeback Scheme.”

The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) is disappointed at the decision. We speak to Martin Kersh, executive director at the FPA, who tells us that it is “naïve of Defra to think we’d believe the inflation reasoning for the delay – the paper cup takeback has nothing to do with costs. They are just not prepared.”

Kersh continues that the industry voluntarily made significant progress in recycling paper cups and was expecting a scale of the scheme through legislation and infrastructure upgrades instead of “pumping the brakes on it.”

The industry-led National Cup Recycling Scheme was launched in 2018.Path to recycling targets
The National Cup Recycling Scheme was launched in 2018 and is a voluntary effort by major retailers, including Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Caffè Nero, Pret A Manger, Greggs, Burger King, Pure and Lavazza Professional.

A waste contractor signed up to the Valpak scheme collects the cups and delivers them to one of the five authorized preprocessors, such as Essity, DS Smith or James Cropper. Paper cups can then be transformed into a range of products, including high-quality packaging, greeting cards and even a reusable cup.

The planned mandatory cups takeback obligation, which was meant to come into effect in 2024 but has now been pushed to 2025, will require all businesses with an average of ten full-time employees or more, that supply consumers with beverages in fiber-based composite cups filled at the point of sale, to provide a visible bin at the premises for the collection of recyclable cups.

Businesses will be required to report the weight of cups sold and cups sent for recycling twice a year. Environmental regulators will regulate the takeback obligations in each of the four nations, and all businesses must register with the appropriate agency either directly or through a takeback scheme. 

Kersh says Defra’s plans to levy a heavy registration fee could potentially deter some small- and medium-sized businesses. “Defra says companies need to register to the scheme for a fee of around £3,000 (US$3,809) – in each nation individually. So, for, let’s say, a small specialty coffee shop with two branches, one in England and the other in Scotland, they’d have to pay £6,000 (US$7,619) and register with both the nations.”

Defra lists the regulators as the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

But Kersh reveals that Defra still needs to set a date for implementing the scheme. “They don’t know when in 2025 – it could be January or December, which makes a huge difference.”

Industry requests certainty
The FPA believes the National Cup Recycling Scheme offers a model that could be expanded to attract more retailers and increase recycling, and any delay in introducing mandatory paper cup takeback could have a negative impact on the growth of retailer support and participation. Paper cups can be recycled for secondary packaging.

Rob Tilsley, Fibre Operations Group Leader at James Cropper, comments: “We have increased our capacity by 40% at our CupCycling plant – allowing us to recycle up to 700 million cups per annum – and have expanded the areas from which we will be collecting cups.”

“Organizations from across the cup recycling ecosystem have invested heavily in supporting the mandatory takeback scheme. Seeing this fantastic opportunity delayed is an unnecessary setback.”

Hannah Osman, National Cup Recycling Scheme manager at Valpak, adds: “We have been teaming up with the key stakeholders in cup recycling for some time and seen significant investment in infrastructure as well as a high level of collaboration.”

“Having experienced such progress, it is vital at this stage that the industry is provided with certainty on the timings for implementing mandatory cup takeback.”

By Radhika Sikaria