By Tate Papworth
Melbourne has a strong reputation for its coffee, but with that comes a growing number of takeaway coffee cups ending up in landfill.
To help combat the issue, CS Square shopping centre has introduced a recycling system to dispose of cups used in the centre.
Recyling bins shaped as coffee cups will be highly visible throughout the mall in a move centre manager Rod Kennedy said was the result of community feedback.
“We have listened to our community’s concern for the environment and their desire for local businesses to be more sustainable,” he said.
“CS Square has adopted this initiative to increase its recycling capacity and become a more environmentally sustainable centre.”
The scheme, dubbed Simply Cups began in 2017.
It is Australia’s largest cup recycling program and has diverted more than eight million cups from landfill overall, with more than 800,000 cups collected in October 2019 alone.
The collected cups are turned into new products such as car park wheel stops, roadside kerbing and recycled furniture.
The program is run by Closed Loop and the company’s managing director Robert Pascoe said it was fantastic to be teaming up with CS Square.
“Closed Loop is excited to have CS Square join the Simply Cups program,” he said.
“We hope that one day all Australian shopping centres will recycle coffee cups.
“With early adopters such as CS Square leading the way, we believe we can make coffee cup recycling more common.”
