Plastic-lined paper cups can now be recycled in the Forest of Dean thanks to a new initiative by the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK) in partnership with the Forest of Dean District Council and Gloucestershire’s Joint Waste Team.

The new service enables paper cups - the sort commonly supplied by coffee shops to their customers and readily available at fast food outlets and petrol stations up and the down the country - to be recycled in the five dedicated food and drink carton recycling banks in the district.

The change is the result of an agreement between ACE UK, which operates the banks, and high street retailers and cup manufacturers and is a great opportunity for residents in the Forest of Dean to recycle even more of their waste.

A spokesperson for ACE UK said: “Herefordshire County Council collects beverage cartons in domestic kerbside collections and as such will not have our carton bring banks located in the area. However under the next stage of the agreement, ACE UK will be working with local authorities and waste management companies to get cups included in kerbside collections. Currently 66% of local authorities collect beverage cartons at kerbside, in addition to those which collect through bring banks, and it is hoped to achieve similar levels of coverage for cups.”

Councillor Chris McFarling, Cabinet Member for the Environment at the Forest of Dean District Council said: ‘Britons are currently responsible for binning 25,000 tonnes of beverage cups annually. That’s more than all the weight of rubbish thrown from Forest of Dean households in an entire year. Adding paper cups to the items already accepted at the carton recycling banks is an exciting development and a clear step in the right direction.’

‘All too regularly the packaging from ‘on-the-go’ food and drink items, and in particular coffee cups, will end up as roadside litter so this is also a great opportunity for residents to think about the wider implications and opt for a reusable drinks cup if they can. Most coffee shops are more than willing to fill a reusable cup brought from home,’ he added.

Currently 7 million single-use beverage cups are used each day in the UK – the equivalent of 2.5 billion per year.

The five carton banks are located at: Kings Head public house, Birdwood; Railway Drive Car Park, Coleford; Newerne Street Car Park, Lydney; Bream Road Car Park, Lydney; and Lewell Street Car Park, Newent.

Residents are reminded that paper beverage cups should not be placed in the paper recycling banks or in the blue kerbside bag due to their plastic coating.