9 Alarming Facts About Single Use Cups

SOME SOBERING STATS

  1. Most single-use “paper” cups contain a polyurethane coating, making recycling difficult and rare. Less than 2% are recycled.
  2. Half a trillion single-use cups are made globally each year; over 70 for every person on the planet.
  3. Over 40% of plastic created annually is for single-use items.
  4. Four billion trees, or 35% of trees felled, are used for paper.
  5. Most single-use cups contain 0% recycled material.
  6. Most compostable single-use cups require a dedicated waste chain and commercial composting facilities. These either don’t exist or are at capacity. Most of these will end up in landfill.
  7. Globally, we consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper each year; 70% from native forests, not plantations or recycling.
  8. Annual consumer waste has increased more than tenfold from 40kg in the 1950s, to 560kg of waste per person now.
  9. 10,000,000,000,000 single-use items are made each year.

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