A huge thank you to Forge recycling who have generously supported the Human Aquarium Uk Exhibition Launch and are also supply a single use coffee ( paper) cup recycling bin which is onsite all of the exhibition via #leedsbyexample.
Some facts about single use coffee (paper) cups:
- Disposable paper cups contain 5% polyurethane plastic, making composting and recycling of disposable cups extremely rare.
- Half a trillion disposable cups are manufactured annually around the world; that’s over 70 disposable cups for every person on the planet.
- 4 billion trees, or 35% of the total trees chopped down, are used in paper industries.
- 1 tonne of paper consumes 98 tonnes of resources in manufacture.
Globally, we consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper each year; most made from virgin pulp. - Very little recycled paper is used to make disposable cups due to health risk concerns.
- 70% of the world’s paper comes from diminishing forests, not from plantations or recycling
Chris from Forge says: “We are the only company in Yorkshire, who are providing a paper cup ‘collection’ service. Since the middle of October 2018, when the scheme started, we have collected over 200,000 cups.Plastic coating is removed from the recycled cups and the remaining fibre can be made into paper bags and other low-grade paper products.”
People generally believe that if they put paper cups into ‘mixed recycling’ bins they will be recycled. This is highly unlikely, instead the cups will end up in incineration or landfill. A collection service by Forge can guarantee cups are recycled, which is current best practise, according to the waste hierarchy (The Waste Regulations 2011 – England and Wales).
Based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Forge Waste & Recycling was started by Harvey and Fraser Mills with the aim to make recycling easy.