James Cropper Unveils Paper Coffee Cup Recycling Plant
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James Cropper Plc, U.K., this week unveiled a new facility to recycle disposable coffee cups as high-quality paper products. The new plant will allow Kendal, England-based James Cropper to recycle 1 billion coffee cups a year to produce packaging and shopping bags for luxury brands such as fashion company Fendi SpA. The facility was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in a visit to Cumbria, a non-metropolitan county in northwestern England where the new plant is located.
"Rather than having to buy pulp from overseas, we built this plant to have our own supply," Chairman Mark Cropper said. "We can be more stable in our cost base."
The technology to separate plastic coating from paper fiber may stop 40% of 2.5 billion paper cups from going to landfills or being burned each year in the U.K., the company said. The system may lead to opportunities in parts of the U.S. where packaging products must have a proportion of recycled inputs.
"It's really important for our luxury business that we now have this technology in place," Cropper said. "We can meet the recycling-content need with no decline in quality."
James Cropper exports to more than 50 countries and papermaking accounts for about 70% of its revenue.
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