Keeping cup recycling on track

Chiltern Railways operates passenger services from its central London terminus at London Marylebone, along the M40 corridor to destinations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, as well as long-distance services to the West Midlands.

The company has a strong track record of implementing sustainability initiatives and consistently achieves high levels of customer satisfaction, having been rated the top franchise operator in the 2019 Which? and National Rail Passenger Survey customer polls.

Coffee cup waste has become a major issue for many transport hub operators. The voluminous cups clog up bins on trains and at stations, often contaminating bins set aside for recycling because of customer confusion.

Chiltern Railways, together with its facilities management company Aktrion, had become alert to the issue and to the growing demand from consumers for recycling solutions. That, plus the number of coffee shops already retailing from its stations, convinced them that cup recycling was the responsible thing to do.

With as many as 43,000 customers entering the station every day, many of whom arrive or depart with a single-use cup, Marylebone required a bespoke solution, so Chiltern turned to Simply Cups, the UK's most established cup collection and recycling company. Chiltern Railways appreciated the company's ethics and flexible approach and decided it would be the right fit.

From the outset, security was a major consideration in establishing dedicated recycling bins on the station concourse. Over the course of six months, Chiltern, Aktrion and Simply Cups worked closely with the Department for Transport to design a new type of cup bin that was functional, robust, mobile and met all safety protocols. After a number of prototypes, and tweaks in between, the final version passed all the regulations and has now set a precedent for bins installed at transport hubs.

Ten new mobile tube bins were ordered and strategically placed around the concourse, close to exit points or coffee shops. Each bin pod contains three tubes: one for cups, one for lids and one for liquids. A new regime was required to maintain the bins regularly and empty the tubes into the sacks provided. Each week the bagged cups were collected and sent on for reprocessing into new, functional products.

The cup recycling initiative was launched at Marylebone Station on 12 February, the first transport hub in the UK to do so. The event was covered by Sky News, BBC London and BBC Radio, and was featured in the London press and trade media.

So far, around 150,000 cups have been captured and recycled into new, functional products which would otherwise have gone to landfill or incineration. The bins have stood up well to the rigours of public recycling and are soon to be refurbished, including new upgraded tubes.

Chiltern Railways now has ambitions to roll the scheme up the line to other stations such as Birmingham Snow Hill, Banbury and High Wycombe, pending budget decisions.