LNER Helps Customers to Recycle On The Move

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is introducing disposable cup recycling stands across its managed stations, making it easier for customers to recycle some of the 2.5 billion single use cups that are thrown away in the UK each year.

Until now, disposable cups have provided eco-conscious customers with a challenge due to the plastic liner inside and contamination from their contents, preventing the cups from being recycled in traditional green recycling bins.

Thanks to advances in technology and recycling processes, and through the provision of special disposable cup recycling stands such as those being introduced across the LNER route, customers can be confident that when they have a drink on the move, they can do so in an environmentally responsible way.

The first recycling stands, which with the customer’s help enable the collection of cups separately from the liquids and lids, are now in place at York Station. Doncaster Station and Wakefield Westgate Station will soon follow with remaining LNER managed stations receiving the stands as part of the next phase of the roll-out.

Thomas Miles, Environmental Partnership Manager at LNER, said “At our larger stations we can see more than 2,000 disposable cups thrown away each day.  As part of our commitment to being a responsible business, we’re pleased to introduce our new recycling stands, helping customers to recycle when travelling through our stations. More than ever before, people are focused on the impact they are having on the world around them so we hope that these new cup recycling stands will be a success.”

Cups collected in the stands will be gathered by Forge Recycling, where they are sorted and baled to optimise collections. These are then transported to a specialist paper mill where the plastic liner is stripped from the paper fibres. The paper fibres are upcycled into luxury papers for use in new products while the liner is burnt for energy recovery within the paper recycling process meaning there is zero waste to landfill.

Sam Goodall, Operations Director at Forge Recycling, said: "Forge Recycling is excited to be working with LNER on the introduction of their new cup recycling scheme in stations across the route. With the added support we've received from Hubbub and Starbucks as part of The Cup Fund, we're thrilled to be able to recycle more cups per year and to do our part in supporting LNER's environmental goals.”

The move by LNER is just the latest step the East Coast operator has taken to help eco-conscious customers. LNER previously introduced an onboard reusable cup discount of 25p, rewarding customers for using their own reusable cup when purchasing a hot drink onboard. While this is currently on hold to reduce the risk of Covid-19, this scheme helped avoid the use of 22,000 disposable cups in 2019.

To find out more about LNER’s Responsible Business initiatives, please visit https://www.lner.co.uk/about-us/responsible-business/