Simply Cups, a recycling program by Australia’s Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, has reached a milestone – collecting and recycling 50 million paper cups across Australia and New Zealand.
Traditional paper cups are often lined with plastic, making them difficult to recycle through standard systems.
With the Simply Cups initiative, the cups are given a second life through recycling and repurposing efforts.
It has more than 1500 collection points and accepts various cups such as coffee, soft drinks, Slurpee, frozen yogurt, and more.
Rob Pasco, MD of Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, credits the achievement to community support.
“Once the community knows they can recycle their paper cups separately, they make sure they return their cup daily thanks to our many convenient collection locations,” Pasco said.
The program’s pioneering partner was 7-Eleven, making 690 location points accessible to the public. Additional locations include schools, universities, shopping centres, office buildings, construction sites, and event venues.
Brendan Lee, circular economy manager at Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, emphasises that there is still more work to do.
“We’re very proud to have reached 50 million cups—but there are still a lot of paper cups being sent to landfill,” Lee concluded.
“Our solution works, and we are excited by what the future holds!”
