Paper Cups Recycled
New reCUP products are lined with mineral-based EarthCoating.
US
Recyclers do not like paper coffee cups. The plastic inner lining causes problems in the recycling process. The situation is so severe in the United Kingdom that Parliament is considering a 25-pence “latte levy” and a possible ban on disposable cups.
Smart Planet Technologies, a California-based engineering company, has developed a working solution with its mineral-based EarthCoating, a thinner film that the company says breaks down much easier than traditional plastic linings. The disposables, called reCUPs, already are in circulation and making their way through recyclers in Southern California.
“We believe the first step to getting paper cups recycled is to make paper cups that are worth recycling,” said Todd Gasparik, Smart Planet’s director of marketing. “Our reCUPS look the same, feel the same and function the same as a traditional paper cup. But when you’re finished using it they are valuable to collect and profitable to recycle.”
Smart Planet Technologies provides its EarthCoating to approved cup suppliers who then produce the recyclable cups, Gasparik said. Two companies were licensed in January to use EarthCoating. Detpak provides products in Australia and New Zealand while CupPrint manufacturers custom printed cups for the global market with manufacturing locations in United States and Ireland.
Learn more: www.recup.earth, us.cupprint.com and www.detpak.com