Recycling Plastic Cups

1 Recycling Plastic Cups Executive Summary Many governments and industries are championing the change to a circular economy as a means of achieving enhanced and lasting human development and sustainability. With a particular focus on plastic cups, this paper seeks to propose a model for achieving a circular economy. It defines the opportunities for circularity of the product, a model for a circular economy of the product, government regulation concerning the product, as well as challenges to achieving the circular economy. A circular supply chain that encompasses the eliminate, innovate, and circulate model has been proposed to replace the "take, make, waste model."

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2 Recycling Plastic Cups Introduction Many governments and industries are championing the change to a circular economy to achieve enhanced and everlasting human development and sustainability. An instrumental element of the circular economy entails material and product re-use at the end of life. It aims at reducing waste to a minimum by creating additional value for a product when it reaches the end of its life (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). The demand for raw materials increases with an increase in the world's population despite the limited supply of the necessary raw materials. Limited supplies also imply that some countries will continuously rely on other nations for their raw materials. Furthermore, the extraction and use of raw materials also adversely affects the environment. It enhances the consumption of energy and the emission of dangerous carbon dioxide gas into the air.

Transitioning to a more circular economy would deliver many benefits. For instance, it would improve the security of raw materials supply, reduce pressure on the environment, boost economic growth, promote innovation, enhance competitiveness, and generate millions of jobs.

That notwithstanding, a circular economy will also provide consumers with long-lasting and innovative products that would be instrumental in saving them money and enhancing the quality of life in the long run (Kirchherr, Reike, & Hekkert, 2017). Despite the circular economy’s wellknown benefits, most of the products and materials that are continuously used by individuals in different parts of the world remain part of a linear economy. Changing to a circular economy from a linear one has become a significant challenge in the modern world. Unlike a circular economy, a linear economy entails a pattern that involves the extraction of the resource from the environment, manufacturing of the product, use of the product, and then disposal. One such

3 product that follows this particular pattern is plastic cups. The primary objective of this paper is to propose how the circularity of plastic cups can be enhanced.

Plastic Cups and its Linear Supply Chain One of the world's biggest problems today concerns single-use plastics, which are only used once before they are disposed of or recycled. Examples include water bottles, plastic bags, coffee stirrers, most food packaging, and stores. The big coffee chains have documented how they recycle their paper cups, but almost none talks about what happens to plastic cups mostly used for iced drinks. According to a BBC report, close to £395 million is spent every year in the United Kingdom on iced drinks (BBC, 2018). The approximate number of summer iced drinks sold in the country’s specialist coffee shops after every seven days amounts to 6.4 million (BBC, 2018).

We need to rethink our relationship with plastic cups or plastics in general. Despite having many uses, the way we use them is worryingly wasteful. Oil and gas are extracted from the earth to make plastic cups and other plastic materials normally designed for one-time use and then thrown away. Thus, it follows a linear supply chain model that best follows the pattern; take, make, waste. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic cups valued at billions of money end up in landfills, where they are burned or released to the environment into the oceans (European Commission, 2018). The increasing population coupled with increased demand for plastic packaged products implies that the number of plastics leaked into the water bodies per year would most likely increase with more significant measures. Before long, we will have more plastic materials in the ocean than fish (Corcoran, 2015). Other than harming the environment, marine litter results in economic damage to activities like shipping, fisheries, and tourism.

4 Therefore, there exists a greater need to develop a circular economy for such plastics as plastic cups.

Opportunities for Enhancing the Circularity of Plastic Cups Citizens, governments, and industries in the United Kingdom and across the globe support safer consumption, production, and more sustainable measures for plastics. This offers an instrumental foundation for social innovation and entrepreneurship, thus ensuring increased wealth creation opportunities among the people (European Commission, 2018). The growth of plastic waste generated is adversely affected by the citizens’ awareness of the need to minimize and avoid waste. The consumers have been sensitized and made to understand the benefits of avoiding waste and can thus play a key role in transitioning from the linear economy to the circular one. Moreover, new business models, better designs, and innovative products are also available and provide more sustainable consumption patterns.

Further, many entrepreneurs also see a business opportunity in the stern action against the use of plastics. New businesses continue to emerge and are now providing adequate circular economy solutions. There are companies offering alternatives to single-use plastic cups or packaging reverse logistics and are significantly benefiting from this development. Another instrumental opportunity for enhancing plastic cups' circularity is that the material used in making plastic cups is recyclable (European Commission, 2018). Polyethylene Tetrahydrate, commonly known as PET, is the material utilized in making plastic cups, and it is very recyclable. It is also the material used in the manufacture of water bottles, meaning one can melt it down, shred it, wash it, and use it back to make other recyclable commodities (BBC, 2018).

A Circular Economy/Supply Chain for Plastic Cups

5 In a circular supply chain, the plastics cups will be designed to be used rather than being used up. The product will be designed and produced without losing any material, leaking toxins, and achieving maximum use from every component, material, and process. The correct application of this system will ensure increased benefits to the economy, environment, and society as a whole. In the circular supply chain, all the plastic cups' design should fit in any of such three systems as re-use, recycle, composting system.

In the circular supply chain, plastic cups are never disposed to become pollutants or waste. Three actions instrumental to the achievement of this vision and enhancing the circularity of plastic cups entail elimination, innovation, and circulation. Elimination entails getting rid of all unnecessary and problematic plastic cups. It will not be feasible to achieve a circular supply chain for plastic cups without elimination. Given the expected surge in demand for plastic cups due to the increasing population, it will not be easy to control the ever-increasing entry of plastic cups into the economy and out of our surroundings. Achieving a circular supply chain will be difficult without reducing the number of plastic cups circulating or that needs to circulate.

Secondly, innovation is required to see that the required plastic cups are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. In the last decades, many generally considered re-use models as something outdated or burdensome. However, recent years have been characterized by increased government and business action, commitments, and interest in re-use, which has taken such various forms as reuse-focused startups, research initiatives, and pilots. Reusable plastic cups can be used several times for its originally intended purpose. The product can be presented back into the economy for re-use by just washing it while maintaining its original form in its whole life of many uses. Innovative re-use models can result in several benefits, including cost-saving, increased operations, build brand loyalty, accumulate user insights, customize products

6 according to the needs of an individual, and offer improved user experience. Besides helping to eliminate plastic waste and pollution, shifting from single-use to re-use minimizes negative externalities like greenhouse gas emissions into the air.

Lastly, the circulation of the needed plastic cups for use is necessary to ensure that they are kept in the economy and away from the environment. The development of a dedicated system that includes collecting, sorting, and rebuilding the reintroduced material will help achieve this goal. Material circulation is different from re-use because the shape of the plastic cup is not maintained, and circulation occurs through a breakdown process. On the other hand, the plastic cup's shape is maintained in re-use, and the means of circulation is washing.

Government Policy/Legislation on Plastics Plastic packaging makes half of the close to five million tonnes of plastic used in the United Kingdom annually (Smith, 2020). Despite contributing to such benefits as improving food safety and hygiene, plastic waste has resulted in serious environmental problems that have forced the government to take stringent measures against the use of plastics in the country. Under the leadership of Prime Minister May, the United Kingdom government developed a strategic ambition that aimed at ensuring that all plastic packagings entering the economy are recyclable, reusable, and compostable by the end of 2025 (Smith, 2020). Similarly, the government of the UK's Resources and Waste Strategy of 2018 also contains various policies whose focus is to reduce plastic waste. The Environment Bill 2019-20 also features proposals on the reform of the extended producer responsibility systems, consistency in recycling, as well as a deposit return scheme.

After a thorough consultation exercise in late 2018, the government came up with regulations aimed at banning the sale of stirrers, cotton buds, and straws made of plastic based on

7 some exemptions (Smith, 2020). The regulations are expected to be implemented this year.

Successive governments of the United Kingdom have also been part of various international agreements focused on eliminating plastics in the marine environment. The Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance is an example of such international agreements. The European Union also, in 2019, published a new Circular Economy Action Plan and a European "Green Deal," which includes additional proposals aimed at improving recycling and minimizing plastic litter (Smith, 2020). The organization's recently agreed single-use plastic directive seeks to ban singleuse plastic items and is binding to all European Union member states. Furthermore, such voluntary initiatives as UK Circular Plastics Network, Plastic Industry Recycling Action Plan, and the Plastics Pact have also been instrumental in changing how stakeholders design, produce, use, re-use, and dispose and reprocess plastics in the plastics chain (Smith, 2020).

Challenges in Enhancing Circularity of Plastic Cups Various challenges adversely affect the circularity of plastic cups. For instance, the current system does not see the economic benefits associated with plastic cups. Many people in society still perceive plastic cups as waste that needs to be disposed of but not as a renewable resource that requires disposal and re-used adequately. Similarly, coffee shops also do not provide separate recycling bins in which their customers can place their plastic cups after use.

This encourages such items to find their way into the natural environment easily. Another challenge is that recycling technology is not good enough (Dieckmann et al., 2020). Most of the recycled plastics are shredded and reprocessed into applications of lower-value. There is a need for a better recycling technology with the ability to maintain product purity and quality to encourage product manufacturers' willingness to use recycled plastics. Furthermore, improper

8 waste management infrastructure and increased consumers’ expectations for convenience (Mustafa & Yusoff, 2011) also act as significant barriers to achieving a circular economy.

Effectiveness of the Proposal A circular supply chain is restorative and regenerative by design. Instead of being used only once and then thrown away, plastic cups constantly follow a closed-loop system that keeps their value in the economy without finding any way into the environment. To move us away from the take, make, dispose supply chain that has formed business models for many years, a circular model of eliminating, innovating, and circulating has been proposed for the plastic cups (European Commission, 2018). The proposal is in line with the European Commission’s vision for the new plastic economy of Europe, which is characterized by six primary points that include; 1. Prioritizing the elimination of needless or problematic plastic by redesign, innovation, as well as new models of delivery 2. Adequate application of re-use models to minimize the use of single-use plastics 3. Plastics used should be 100 percent reusable, recyclable, and compostable.

4. The use of plastic fully eliminates the consumption of limited resources.

5. All plastic used for packaging is re-used, recycled, or composted in practice.

6. Plastic packaging should not contain hazardous chemicals and respect the concerned individuals' health, rights, and safety.

Conclusion Eliminate, innovate, and circulate has been proposed as the model for the circular supply chain of plastic cups. It replaces the current linear supply chain characterized by the extraction of the resource from the environment, manufacturing the product, using the product, and then disposal. The take, make, and waste model results in many environmental and economic hazards,

9 thus prompting the need for a circular economy for plastic cups. Peoples’ support for safer consumption, production, and more sustainable measures for plastics and being perceived as a business opportunity provide significant opportunities for enhancing plastic cups' circularity.

Overcoming the challenges of having a circular economy for plastics requires concrete cation from all the plastic value chain stakeholders. Local authorities, businesses, the scientific community, and civil society are also instrumental in this process as they work together with the governments, national and regional, to ensure a successful transition.

10 References BBC (2018). Recycling plastic cups: five things we’ve learnt from Pixie Lott’s investigation. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zh4j92p Corcoran, P. L. (2015). Benthic plastic debris in marine and freshwater environments. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 17(8), 1363-1369.

Dieckmann, E., Sheldrick, L., Tennant, M., Myers, R., & Cheeseman, C. (2020). Analysis of Barriers to Transitioning from a Linear to a Circular Economy for End of Life Materials: A Case Study for Waste Feathers. Sustainability, 12(5), 1725.

European Commission, A. (2018). A European strategy for plastics in a circular economy. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/plastics-strategy-brochure.pdf Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M., & Hultink, E.J. (2017). The Circular Economy–A new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 757-768.

Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., & Hekkert, M. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 127, 221-232.

Mustafa, H., & Yusoff, R.M. (2011). Measuring the Long-Term Effectiveness of a Compulsory Approach to Behaviour Change: Analysis of the ‘Say No to Plastic Bag-Campaign at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 5(2), 233244.

Smith, L. (2020). Plastic waste. House of Commons Library. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/CBP-8515.pdf