Segregation is extremely important in preventing contamination and, as such, the project’s eye-catching ‘Up for the Cup’ bins have been innovatively designed to encourage consumers to ‘sip and separate’ liquids and lids from cups. The bins have been situated at strategic locations across Northampton including the University of Northampton, The Royal & Derngate Theatre and the Grosvenor Shopping centre*.  

Anna Cawley, Customer Services Director at Cawleys, commented:  

“We are delighted to have been selected to support this fantastic initiative. We have long been advocates of improving drink-cup recycling rates and we currently collect cups at a number of clients’ premises. However, we believe that the general public need to be made more aware of the importance of segregating their cups and placing them in the correct bins – thankfully this campaign does just that.” 

Project Officer, Emma Stone said of ‘Up For The Cup’:  

“It is great to be working with Hubbub and to see the University leading on an important environmental initiative. We have a big target to reach and really hope the public of Northampton will be ‘Up For The Cup’ with us. 

“Our marketing and environmental science students are playing an integral part of the project. This provides them with a great opportunity of working on a ‘live’ socially impactful project and providing valuable experience for them whilst at university, which in turn enhances their future employability.” 

Gavin Ellis, Director and Co-Founder of Hubbub, said: 

“While reusable cups are the most environmentally friendly choice, billions of paper cups are still being used each year and most aren’t currently recycled. We know that people generally want to do the right thing with recycling and it was surprising to find that three in four people are still unaware that cups need to be collected separately from normal card and paper.** 

“By using the Hubbub and Starbucks Cup Fund to raise awareness and introduce eye-catching cup recycling points in high footfall locations, we hope we can encourage the people of Northampton to dispose of their cups in the right bins and ensure that they are recycled.”  

Research shows that more than 22,300 coffee cups are being thrown away in Northampton every day. If laid end to end each day, this equates to 19 times the height of the Northampton lift tower.  

These guidelines should be followed by consumers to ensure the maximum number of paper cups can be recycled: 

• Take off the lid from your paper cup and dispose of it in the bin clearly marked ‘for lids’. 
• Make sure your paper cup is empty. If not, empty the liquid in the clearly marked liquid container. 
• When the cup is empty and the lid is removed, the paper cups can then be placed into the bin through the correct hole. 
• No other waste materials should be placed in any part of the bins.  

Consumers can keep in touch with the campaign and see the progress by following our blog and social media pages. The hashtags for this campaign are #InTheLoop #UpForTheCup 

For any enquiries about Up for the Cup, please email: Emma.stone2@northampton.ac.uk, ruta.matulyte@gmail.com; verbylaite.jurate@gmail.com and lorraine.gorimani18@my.northampton.ac.uk 

Find out more about The Cup Fund. 

*The full list of stakeholders where ‘Up For The Cup’ recycling bins are located are: 

• The Students’ Union, Waterside Campus. 
• Grosvenor Shopping, Northampton.  
• Northampton General Hospital  
• The Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton.  

**Survey of 3,003 national representative UK adults conducted by Censuswide in June and July 2019. 

About The Cup Fund  

Environmental charity Hubbub, with the support of Starbucks, launched ‘The Cup Fund’, the UK’s largest grant fund to support ambitious projects that boost paper cup recycling in the UK.  

The Cup Fund is financed by Starbucks, who introduced a 5p charge on paper cups in 2018, to encourage customers to increase their use of reusable cups.  

The instore charge has seen reusable cup use increase from 1.8% nationwide to over 5% of all hot drinks sold. In store cup recycling is also offered in over 375 Starbucks stores across Britain, in a scheme that means any brand of cup can be brought back to be recycled.  

The Cup Fund winners were selected following a three-month application and selection process, by an independent panel consisting of experts in recycling, infrastructure, behavior change and communications. Panel members included:  

• Pat Jennings, Head of Policy and Communications, Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)  
•  Jaz Rabadia MBE, Senior Manager of Energy and Sustainability, Starbucks  
•  Trewin Restorick, CEO and Co-Founder, Hubbub  
•  Carole Taylor, Chair, Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC)  
•  Sam Williams, Partner, Barley Communications.