Chiltern Railways has become the UK’s first train operator to implement coffee cup recycling at its stations through its partnership with Aktrion Facilities and Simply Cups.Joining the partners at the official launch at Marylebone station, London, on February 12th, were reporters from BBC London TV and BBC Radio London.
Alan Riley, Customer Services Director for Chiltern Railways, said:
“With the knowledge that over 5 billion paper cups are making their way into landfills and incineration each year, we feel it is our duty to set a standard of excellence for the rail industry and provide our customers a guaranteed way of recycling their used cups. This scheme is the first of its kind in the rail industry and, while we’re proud to be championing it on behalf of our customers, the hope is that this is quickly adopted across other parts of the rail network”
“For train and station operators, single-use coffee cups have quickly become a major constituent of their overall waste”, said Peter Goodwin, Co-Founder of Simply Cups.
“They not only quickly jam up bins but also pose a real recycling headache since they are often mixed with other waste streams. Customer confusion over which type of bin to use is also rife. We hope to solve bother these issues through placement of our newly-designed bins at stations that will make it far simpler for customers to put their used cups in the right place”.
Peter added further “The initial trial that has been running since mid-January has proved that there is real consumer appetite for cup recycling. If the bins provided are functional, obvious and located in the right place consumers will use them. And if they want to finish their drink on the way to work, there’s a good chance that, with the growth of our scheme, they can also recycle them at their office too”.
The launch stimulated a huge amount of media coverage including a leading article in The Evening Standard, a live feature on Vanessa Feltz’s BBC Radio London Show and a report on BBC London Tonight. Clips from the BBC shows are below.
