The National Cup Recycling Scheme has awarded more than £44,000 in funding to the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London (UCL) as the winner of its ‘Beyond the Bin’ project fund competition.
The UCL-led project will research the barriers to recycling paper cups within mainstream recycling systems and develop the first behavioural systems map focused specifically on cup recycling. The findings are intended to inform future infrastructure design, communication strategies and policy development, with the aim of reducing the number of paper cups sent to landfill.
Hannah Osman, manager of the National Cup Recycling Scheme, said the competition attracted a strong range of submissions. “It was a particularly close call between the top four finalists, but UCL’s bid is a worthy winner,” she said. “The findings can directly inform future infrastructure design and help identify the key behaviours, barriers and enablers in paper cup recycling.”
The eight-month project will be led by Dr Lucy Porter and Dr Ayşe Lisa Allison and will include stakeholder consultation across retail, waste, manufacturing and policy sectors. The research will draw on behavioural science tools, including the COM-B behaviour model, and will include a case study developed in collaboration with the National Cup Recycling Scheme and Valpak.
Matt Spencer, commercial director and group head of sustainability at Caffè Nero, said understanding behaviour across the recycling system is essential to improving outcomes. “We know that improving recycling rates isn’t just about infrastructure,” he said. “We hope UCL’s work will provide valuable insight to help retailers, policymakers and waste partners design more effective solutions.”
The Beyond the Bin competition also received submissions from RECOUP, Recorra and Immersive Industry Experiences, which were named close runners-up.
The National Cup Recycling Scheme is administered by Valpak by Reconomy and funded by participating brands including Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Pret A Manger, Caffè Nero, Lavazza Professional, Greggs and Burger King. Since its launch, the scheme reports that 227 million paper cups have been recycled in the UK.
