Simply Cups has reached a major milestone by collecting and recycling 50 million paper cups across Australia and New Zealand, preventing them from ending up in landfills.
The initiative, managed by Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, operates through more than 1,500 collection locations, accepting cups from coffee, soft drinks, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and Slurpees.
Rob Pascoe, managing director of Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, credited the achievement to strong community participation.
“Once the community knows they can recycle their paper cups separately, they either collect cups at home and drop them off at a collection location or make sure they return their cup daily thanks to our many convenient collection locations,” Pascoe said.
Despite the milestone, Brendan Lee, Circular Economy Manager at Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, emphasised that many paper cups are still being sent to landfill.
“We’re very proud to have reached 50 million cups, but there are still a lot of paper cups being sent to landfill. Our solution works, and Simply Cups has the capacity to collect, process, and recycle more! We are excited by what the future holds, particularly with our recognition as an Alternative Destination under the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL),” Lee said.
According to Closed Loop, the program’s reach has expanded significantly, with more than 690 collection points available to the public.
The initiative is supported by Pioneering Partner 7-Eleven Australia, along with participation from schools, universities, shopping centres, office buildings, construction sites, and large-scale events.
Holy Cross Catholic Parish Primary School is among the participants promoting the recycling program. Teacher and WEN Coordinator, Lucy Barbuto, highlighted its educational value.
“Simply Cups is a wonderful resource for our school to educate our students and wider community to be more environmentally conscious and foster lifelong learning,” Barbuto said.
