Paper coffee cups are actually lined with plastic, making them difficult to recycle in most cases. When two materials such as paper and plastic are adhered together in a product, standard paper mills can't separate them — so the whole cup becomes contamination that can spoil an entire bale of good paper.
The rule: lid off, cup in trash
Pop the plastic lid into your recycling cart (it's rigid #5 plastic in most areas) and put the cup itself in the trash. The cardboard sleeve? That part is clean paperboard — recycle it.
Better: bring your own
Most cafés discount refills in reusable mugs, and one reusable cup replaces roughly 500 disposables a year. Offices can help by putting mugs — not cup dispensers — next to the coffee machine, plus a small dish rack so washing is frictionless.
What this means for workplaces
If your break room generates sleeves of cups daily, our retail and institutional team can set up a dedicated collection and staff briefing so the cups stop contaminating your cardboard stream. See the program.
Peter Allan leads route education at Tidecrest. ← Back to all articles