Pollution is a global threat. Thanks to our on-the-go lifestyle, disposable products have become an essential part of our lives. These disposable products which are made of plastic are one of the major contributors to pollution. The theme of this year’s World Environment Day held on 5th June every year, is ‘#BeatPlasticPollution’ which is an effort to reduce single-use plastic waste around the world.
What is single-use plastic?
Like the name suggests, single-use plastic consists of all plastic products that are only good for one-time use and must be discarded thereafter. Single-use plastic items include plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and plastic cutlery and plastic bottles. They can end up in dumping grounds around the world, and gradually in our oceans, where they threaten marine life.
A number of organisations are taking steps to increase awareness about the harm plastic causes to the environment, but it is up to individuals to also take the initiative and do their bit to help curb their own waste footprint by reusing and recycling.
Reverse vending
We have been championing reverse vending and deposit return schemes to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste caused by single use containers for some time now. A deposit return scheme has consumers pay an upfront deposit when they buy a drink which is redeemed on return of the empty drink container.
Following the Scottish Government’s announcement in September 2017 that Scotland will introduce a Deposit Return Scheme, the UK government followed suit at the end of March and announced that England will also be implementing a Deposit Return Scheme. We believe this is a positive step to reduce harmful plastic waste and will bring the UK in line with European countries such as Germany, Croatia, Estonia, Sweden and Finland who already have successful Deposit Return Schemes in place and impressive recycling rates.
Recycle Coffee Cups
It is estimated that 2.5bn takeaway coffee cups are thrown away every year in the UK. A staggering 10,000 cups are thrown away in the UK every two minutes, totalling over 2.5 billion each year. Despite the majority of cups being recyclable, just 1 in 400 cups are actually recycled due to a lack of infrastructure in place – we believe there are currently only 5 sites in the UK that can recycle this material.
The Paper Cup Alliance aims to increase recycling rates by supporting the growing infrastructure for their collection and processing. There are over 4,000 recycling points across the UK where cups are collected and delivered to one of the five recycling and reprocessing plants across the country. Collectively these facilities could recycle 4.15 billion paper cups each year and Paper Cup Alliance members are working to support the infrastructure needed to get the 2.5 billion cups sold on UK high streets each year from consumers’ hands to these paper mills.
We are committed to the environment and as such we will be showcasing a reverse vending cup machine in our showroom this month which will assist with the collection and recycling of coffee cups.
A number of people are now carrying their own reusable coffee cup and the majority of Excel Vending’s coffee machines allow you to be able to use your own cup. Some high street coffee chains even offer you a discount on your hot drink if you use one, so it can save you money as well as help save the environment.
Our environmental standards
Excel Vending have the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard and we are also a member of the Circular Glasgow programme to help create a greener Scotland.
If you would like to see the reverse vending machine in operation in our showroom and find out more about reverse vending, please give us a call on 0845 60 40 111, or email us at info@excel-vending.co.uk.