In in annual progress report, the PCRRG now estimates there are now more than 4000 recycling points in the UK, including in large food chains such as Costa Coffee, Starbucks and McDonald’s.
Third party operations like Simply Cups have also increased their networks and partnerships over the past 12 months.
Speaking to RWW, Neil Whittall, chairman of the PCRRG, said: “The general understanding of consumers has improved and we also hit a media change where consumers are noticing the effect of paper cup recycling more.
“We have managed to get more companies on board- the whole supply chain is now involved.”
Despite the progress, Whittall still argues the UK has a long way to go to keep on improving paper cup recycling rates.
He said: “Infrastructure still has its challenges, the problem is that we don’t want to contaminate someone’s waste stream so we have to think intelligently with how waste moves around.
“We are looking at schemes and different models to change consumer behaviour as well as finding solutions which work for different areas.”
The report also sets out the scope of PCRRG activity for the coming year, which includes facilitating and funding a number of projects, the first of which being the ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ litter composition study this Autumn.