Kendal firm James Cropper announces McDonald’s partnership

In a move to safeguard the environment and boost supply chain sustainability, Cumbria-based paper manufacturer James Cropper has secured a trial recycling partnership with fast food giant McDonald’s.

As part of the deal, James Cropper will recycle paper cups from McDonald’s restaurants across the UK at its reclaimed fibre plant, turning previously non-recyclable plastic-coated cups into paper products.

The Kendal-headquartered business’ market development manager, Richard Burnett, said: “It’s estimated that up to 2.5bn paper cups are used in the UK every year.

“Most of these are currently not recycled as, being polyethylene-coated, they can’t be recycled amongst ordinary household waste.”

He continued: “In addition, collecting used paper cups for recycling has been problematic due to the nature of their use – they’re used on the go and are often taken away from the place of purchase.”

Through the McDonald’s partnership, Richard said he hopes to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and increase the number of used paper cups ultimately making their way back into the supply chain.

So far, the trial scheme has been introduced across 150 of the fast-food firm’s 1250 UK-based restaurants, with recycling organisation Simply Cups on board to provide waste collection services.

Helen McFarlane, a sustainability consultant with McDonald’s UK, commented: “Paper cups constitute about 30% of our packaging waste and this is a great opportunity to ensure that the quality fibre used in making those cups gets another life.

“We have recently started to introduce recycling stations in our restaurants to allow customers to separate paper cups, and we’re eager to see what this trial with James Cropper and Simply Cups will look like, hopefully helping set up the infrastructure for others to use in future.”

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