Valpak expands national service to help coffee shops meet new recycling regulations

Reconomy brand Valpak – the Warwickshire-based administrator of the UK’s largest paper cup recycling scheme – has expanded its national service to help coffee shops meet the demands of upcoming legislation.

The National Cup Recycling Scheme was set up to kick-start paper cup recycling. It brought together major retailers, waste management companies and UK paper mills and, in response to next year’s change in the law, the scheme is expanding to include smaller brands and cafés.

From October 2025, any business with more than 10 employees which provides paper cups to staff or customers will need to report twice a year on the volume of cups sold.

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They will also be required to host a take-back scheme for customers and report on the number of cups being sent for recycling.

Hannah Osman, National Cup Recycling Manager at Stratford-upon-Avon-based Valpak, said: “The UK already has the capacity to recycle all of the cups generated across the country’s 25,000 cafés and coffee shops, so this legislation will have a far-reaching impact.

"As with any new regulation, it may be confusing at first but the National Cup Recycling Scheme’s work with major brands such as Costa and McDonald’s means we already have a successful network in place.

"Combined with Valpak’s experience in compliance, we have all the tools to support businesses through the transition.”

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Valpak’s service is open to any site providing filled cups to staff or members of the public. As well as managing the compliance aspects, the scheme incorporates a straightforward collection system. Valpak provides outlets with a collection box able to hold 400-700 cups; once filled, businesses arrange for a collection.

Each collection is weighed and logged. The cups are then delivered to paper mills around the country, where they are recycled into packaging for luxury brands. Since 2018, 185 million cups have already been recycled through the scheme.

Hannah Osman said: “Paper cups are easily recycled; we just have to keep the cups separate from other waste streams. At Valpak, we think it is important to bring customers on the journey, so we provide stats to show what businesses have achieved. This type of robust data will also be important when compliance reporting begins.”