7-Eleven and Simply Cups team up to recycle takeaway cups

7-Eleven and Simply Cups have announced a takeaway cup recycling initiative in an effort to divert up to 70 million takeaway cups from landfill. The partnership will see dedicated collection bins for takeaway coffee and Slurpee cups installed in over 200 7-Eleven stores nationally and 50 other large-scale locations, such as universities or construction sites, from March 2018.

“As Australia’s second-largest takeaway coffee destination, we felt we had a responsibility to take the lead and find a solution to save cups from going to landfill,” said 7-Eleven CEO Angus McKay.

“In partnership with Simply Cups, 7-Eleven has developed a collection and recycling program for coffee and Slurpee cups to kickstart the cup recycling revolution across Australia.”

Currently, more than one billion takeaway cups end up in landfill each year in Australia because there is no effective way for cups to be recycled. This is due to the polyethylene or liquid paperboard lining being a contaminant for regular paper recycling facilities. However, thanks to new home-grown technology there is now a way to treat plastic-lined cups.

“Simply Cups now has access to technology that removes the plastic lining from paper-based cups so that both materials can then be processed in regular paper and plastic recycling facilities,” revealed Rob Pascoe, founder of Closed Loop’s Simply Cups.

“By collecting takeaway cups via a separate waste stream, Simply Cups can guarantee that cups collected through the dedicated 7-Eleven bins will be recycled.”

Angus McKay and Rob Pascoe.

The 7-Eleven Simply Cups collection bins will be rolled out in March 2018 and will take any brand of coffee, Slurpee or similar paper-based cup. As the program scales up, 7-Eleven is committing to recycling 70 million cups a year — equivalent to the number sold in-store.

“It doesn’t matter where you purchase your drink, we want consumers to dispose of their cups in the 7-Eleven Simply Cups bin and be part of the cup recycling revolution,” McKay said.

McKay and Pascoe both encourage other organisations to implement a Simply Cups program to save cups from going to landfill. To join the Simply Cups collection service, visit https://www.simplycups.com.au/get-involved.