Single use coffee cups aren’t recyclable

Single use coffee cups aren’t recyclable!  

They have a plastic lining, making it hard for them to get recycled in your yellow lid recycling bin.  

Unfortunately, these go in your waste bin!  

Try to remember your reusable cup next time.

What about compostable takeaway coffee cups?

Unfortunately, compostable and biodegradable coffee cups are not recyclable and cannot go in the yellow lid bin. Certified compostable coffee cups could go in your compost bin at home where they may be able to break down into compost (this is called organic recycling). You can find out more about difference between recyclable and certified compostable here.

I thought takeaway coffee cup lids could be recycled?

Coffee cup lids aren’t the right shape to be sorted at our Material Recovery Facility (MRF). We accept plastic bottles and containers (typically from your kitchen, bathroom and laundry). We need the plastic item to be a mininium size of 5cmx5cm so it's a distinct 3D shape. Flat items like a coffee cup lids will not get sorted correctly. Plus, a lot of coffee cup lids these days are compostable/biodegradable which are not recyclable. You can find out more about difference between recyclable and certified compostable here.’

Confused about recycling? ️Download the RecycleMate app to learn the right way to recycle.