The "world's first recyclable paper coffee cup" is coming to the UK, potentially diverting millions of cups away from landfill.

 

More than 2.5 billion cups are thrown away every year in the UK, according to Which? magazine, creating a 25,000-tonne mountain of waste that is almost wholly dumped in landfill sites.

 

The vast majority of conventional coffee cups are made of 95 per cent cardboard from 80-year-old trees and five per cent polyethylene plastic, because EU regulations prevent coffee cups being made from recycled paper.

 

Special facilities are needed to separate the thin layer of plastic used to keep the drink warm and prevent the cup getting soggy from the cardboard, which means most cups are rejected by recycling plants.

 

However, British entrepreneur and engineer Martin Myerscough claims to have overcome the problem with an alternative dubbed Green Your Cup, which has a thin film layer that separates easily from the paper during the recycling process, leaving behind only recyclable paper.

 

Myerscough, chief executive of 3Boys Limited, has already invented the lightweight "cardboard" bottle being used for milk and wine, which is estimated to have a carbon footprint 90 per cent lower than traditional bottles.

 

He claims the new Green Your Cup can be thrown into recycling bins – unlike current cups – and can be recycled into newspapers up to seven times.

 

Londoners were given a sneak preview of the cup on Friday morning at Somerset House, where 1,000 were handed out to tourists and commuters.