Everyone has thrown away their paper coffee cup in a yellow bin at some point in their lives. But the very thing that makes them able to hold our precious coffee without dissolving like newspaper in the rain is what makes them unable to be recycled. This week, the café at the Melbourne Museum is providing takeaway cups that are both easy to recycle and waterproof as part of a trial to reduce the impact of waste.
The RecycleMe cup does away with that pesky plastic lining that causes a billion cups to end up in landfill each year. Instead, they utilise a mineral-based lining that is easy to remove during the recycling process. This makes 96% of the cup recyclable, able to be turned into paperback covers and other paper and cardboard products. So the next time you look in your bag and realise you left your Keep Cup in the dishwasher (again), you can grab a RecycleMe cup and still be doing your bit for the environment.
The RecycleMe cup trial is also happening at participating cafes in Adelaide, Hobart and Sydney. Blue bins will be available at each location for the empty cups and lids, which will be baled up and taken to a paper recycling facility so that we can start paying back Mother Nature for all the coffee she’s gifted us.
RecycleMe cups will be available from Melbourne Museum, from Monday Aug 14 until Sunday Aug 20.
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