SOME SOBERING STATS
- Most single-use “paper” cups contain a polyurethane coating, making recycling difficult and rare. Less than 2% are recycled.
- Half a trillion single-use cups are made globally each year; over 70 for every person on the planet.
- Over 40% of plastic created annually is for single-use items.
- Four billion trees, or 35% of trees felled, are used for paper.
- Most single-use cups contain 0% recycled material.
- 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.
- Globally, we consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper each year; 70% from native forests, not plantations or recycling.
- Annual consumer waste has increased more than tenfold from 40kg in the 1950s, to 560kg of waste per person now.
- 10,000,000,000,000 single-use items are made each year.