English (United States)
Toggle Menu

Categories

Related News

Gmuk conf news banner 1000x1000

Green Motion UK Celebrates Success at 2024 Conference

Handing over the car key hands isolated on white 2023 11 27 05 13 20 utc 1000 x 1000

Leading the way for the car rental industry
Coffee cups not recyclable green motion car hire sustainable

2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away yearly in the UK with the majority of them not being recyclable

Hundreds of thousands of coffee cups are throw into the recycling bin in the UK every day. However, what most people don’t realise is that these cups are not recyclable and the UK alone throws away around 2.5bn of them each year.

Wrongly, most consumers just assume that paper cups are the ‘green’ choice however a majority of coffee cups are not made from recyclable material and in order to make the cups waterproof, the card is blended with polyethylene which is a material that cannot be separated by most standard recycling mills.

True, the poly-lined cups are technically able to be recycled, which is why many companies call them ‘recyclable’ however only very specialised facilities (there are only 2 in the UK) can actually process them.

In addition, coffee cups have a relatively short live, meaning that the millions of coffee cups we use every day are simply thrown away almost immediately, creating a staggering waste and a immense carbon footprint.

What can we do to help the issue? While some companies are looking into ways of creating their cups with completely sustainable and recyclable materials (of which we should be applying pressure), we as consumers also need to think about changing our own habits and having our own reusable coffee cups is a good place to start.

Green Motion car rental is a company which is constantly trying to improve its sustainable efforts with us trying to ensure that our services are as green and clean as possible. Green Motion has a franchised car hire presence in over 25 countries and is continuing its crusade to not only make their own business practices as green as possible but also to encourage customer's (leisure and business) to make behavioural changes.

To find out more about our environmental policy or to make a car rental booking, please contact Green Motion car hire directly at greenmotion.com or +44 (0) 2071864000.