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Whether you’re grabbing a flat white on the way to work or a latte after the school run, we in the UK love a cuppa on the go.

And while the numbers of people using reusable coffee mugs are growing, a staggering three billion paper cups are used in the UK every year.

But what many hot drink lovers don’t realise is that paper cups cannot be recycled at home or in high street bins. They can only be recycled if taken back into stores and transported to the correct recycling facility.

Paper cup recycling scheme pilots in Cardiff

To help ensure more paper cups are recycled, Cardiff is taking part in a pilot scheme which gives people 50p for returning their cups to any of the 20 sites taking part in the initiative. The scheme is currently under way in the city centre, and will be running until the end of August – perfect timing for the school holidays.

The scheme is being run by the National Cup Recycling Scheme, Keep Wales Tidy and Bower, a Swedish app which already has more than 700,000 users globally and, since 2019, has helped ensure more than 140 million packages have been recycled. The company’s world-first AI app, launched in 2024, instantly identifies recycling, helping to tackle the growing number of paper cups that end up in landfill.

Easy-to-use app rewards you for recycling your paper cups

It’s really easy to use. Download the free Bower app, register your details, buy your hot drink as usual and, once you’re done, use the AI feature to scan the packaging. You can then return your cup to participating branches of McDonalds, Costa Coffee, Greggs, Caffe Nero and Pret a Manger in the city centre, with the app’s interactive map showing you your nearest recycling point. Your 50p reward will show up in the app ready for you to cash out when ready.

Some of the stores have a dedicated recycling facility with areas for liquids, paper cups and plastic lids. In others, you can give the cup to a member of staff who will ensure it is placed in the correct recycling unit. You don’t need to take your cup back to the branch you bought it from. In fact, you don’t even need to take it back to the same chain – you can take cups (up to five per day per person) back to any of the companies listed, and they’ll even accept cups bought from other retailers who aren’t part of the scheme too.

When the cups reach the recycling facility, they are pulped with water, the plastic lining is removed from the fibres in the pulping process, and the fibres are used to make new paper products.

Each cup can be recycled up to seven times, reducing its carbon emissions by 50%.

Their high-quality fibres can be made into new products including paper packaging for brands such as Mulberry, Selfridges and Hallmark cards. The plastic lining is repurposed in Wales into items such as garden furniture and cable ties, while the fibres are processed at a specialist paper mill in the Lake District.

Since the National Cup Recycling Scheme was launched in April 2018, 223 million cups have been recycled in the UK – but there’s still a lot of paper cups that end up in landfill.

With Wales currently the second best country in the world when it comes to recycling, Cardiff is the perfect spot for this new trial as competing brands unite in the fight against waste.

You can get involved now by downloading the Bower App via Google Play or the App Store. Find out more about the National Cup Recycling Scheme here.

Sites participating in the National Cup Recycling Scheme Cardiff initiative

• Caffe Nero, St David’s Shopping Centre 
• Caffe Nero, Trinity St 
• Costa Coffee, The Hayes 
• Costa Coffee, St David’s Shopping Centre 
• Costa Coffee, Queen St 
• Costa Coffee, Park Place 
• Costa Coffee, Cardiff Central Train Station 
• Greggs, Central Square 
• Greggs, The Hayes 
• Greggs, Caroline St 
• Greggs, St David’s Shopping Centre 
• Greggs, St Marys St 
• Greggs, 34 Queen St 
• Greggs, 140 Queen St 
• Greggs, Park Place 
• Greggs, Cardiff University Park Place 
• McDonald’s, St Marys St 
• McDonald’s, Queen St 
• Pret a Manger, Central Square
• Pret a Manger, St David’s Shopping Centre