Canadian cups into trays

By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling

Canadian coffee shop giant Tim Hortons says it has found a way to recycle its hot beverage cups into take-out trays that can be recycled into even more trays.

Tim Hortons, a ubiquitous chain throughout Canada known for its coffee and doughnuts, has announced the results of a two-year trial with Scotia Recycling Limited to collect cups at all 156 traditional restaurants across the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and deliver them to Hantsport-based paper product manufacturer CKF Inc. to see if they could be recycled.

Initially, the cups were blended with other recovered fiber and made into a variety of paper products. But now, Tim Hortons and CKF have come up with a process that converts the cups into take-out trays and other products.

This isn't the first cup-recycling initiative undertaken by the chain. In 2008, Tim Hortons launched an effort to collect its cups for recycling in the Toronto area, which Starbucks is hoping replicate, to some degree. The Seattle-based coffee giant has a stated goal of making all of its cups recyclable by 2015.

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