Circular&Co has partnered with The British Library to implement Tap&Reuse, a zero-deposit system designed to replace single-use cups with cups that can be reused up to 1,000 times.
Circular&Co says visitors can purchase a drink at the library’s Upper Ground Café operated by Graysons before returning their cup to a designated collection point, aiming to ‘significantly reduce’ the institution’s coffee cup waste stream. The cups will then be washed and returned to circulation. Once a cup can no longer be reused it is recycled into new products, often cups, keeping the material in the system.
The company states that each cup has a QR code that can be scanned to show how long users have left to return it and the location of nearby points to do so, designed to increase the return rate and have a positive impact on the scheme’s carbon footprint. The scheme gives users seven days to return the cup. After this period, an automatic charge of £3 is applied, and they consequently own it.
Reportedly, Tap&Reuse has a 97% return rate and has prevented the consumption of 5,000 single-use cups and their lids at the British Library. Due to this result, the British Library plans to explore opportunities to expand the scheme into other areas in the future.
Tap&Reuse is currently being deployed across the UK and Europe, with other adoptees including energy provider EDF and the National Trust. Circular&Co adds that it supplies businesses with the equipment needed to adopt the system, including installation and full operational support. It also monitors and automatically replaces cup stocks free of charge.
In related news, Borealis and FSG Returnables have helped the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) introduce a reusable cup system to its hospital cafés, a move expected to reduce waste and lower Extended Producer Responsibility costs. Produced using Bockatech’s EcoCore technology, the foamed polypropylene structure is ‘ultra-lightweight’ while providing the necessary strength and thermal performance for hot beverages.
Borouge International (formerly Borealis), OMV, Greiner Packaging and event supplier Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) recently collaborated to create a closed-loop system for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, with 100,000 reusable cups made from 100% recycled plastic due to be used on-site. The reusable cups are produced using plastic packaging waste collected through Austria’s nationwide yellow bag and yellow bin system in both urban and rural areas.
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