One Thing I've Learned Today. Recyclable coffee cups. Small print.

For how many years have plastic cups been replaced by paper cups, by businesses selling soft drinks, such as coffee and tea? Like everyone else, I thought that they were all recycled, and how super. But one thing I learned today, is that nothing is straight forward, particularly in the world of recycling. Idly reading small print on the side of my Costa coffee cup on the train, I discovered that to recycle it, it had to be returned to a coffee shop, or taken to a recycling centre. What? So it can't be dropped into a recycling bin in the town, or the railway station, or even carried home to put in the home bin? Another time, another coffee later, at Greggs this time, one clear plastic bin bag was full of paper cups, paper bags and cans, but bizarrely, a notice above the bin, informed customers that if they wanted their items recycled, they should hand them in at the counter! So, a tad embarrassed I did just that, alone with my empty cup, in a queue of people waiting for food and drink. But.....

......All this is about to, or has changed in England since March '25 when 'Simpler Recycling' regulations were introduced, and businesses with more than 10 employees required to separate waste into four categories; residual waste, food waste, paper and card, and all other dry recyclables (plastics, metal and glass.) Businesses with less than 10 employees can manage as best they can until March 31, 2027, to comply. So if you want to save the world, and you're in a coffee shop with more than 10 employees, and they haven't got their new bins yet, queue up at the counter.