Paper manufacturer James Cropper has partnered with Carlisle United Football Club and local businesses to collect and recycle used coffee cups into premium paper.
Paper manufacturer James Cropper is supporting a collaborative initiative with Little Coffee Cup and Carlisle United Football Club. The project demonstrates how used coffee cups can be collected, recycled, and reintroduced into the paper supply chain through coordinated systems.
The project builds on the launch of a children’s book titled Little Coffee Cup’s Big Surprise. James Cropper produced the paper for the book using recycled coffee cups via its CupCycling process. Extending beyond the book, the initiative now incorporates live cup collection and recycling activity at the Brunton Park stadium of Carlisle United.
Over the next four home games, cup collection and storage activity will take place within the stadium environment. North West Recycling and author Hayley Slack will support this activity. The collaboration reflects an alignment between local waste management expertise, club partnerships, and a shared ambition to increase participation in recycling programmes.
The wider initiative brings together a network of partners to enable closed-loop outcomes. The business co-cr8 is supplying branded collection bins to support in-stadium engagement. CupPrint has produced a bespoke partnership edition of the PE-lined paper cups used at matches, which John Watt and Son supply and serve as the catering partner for the football club. North West Recycling takes responsibility for collecting and baling used cups. The business will also monitor returned volumes over the course of the season to better understand recovery rates and participation levels.
Following collection, co-cr8 will transport the recovered cups back into the recycling stream. James Cropper will then process the fibre using its proprietary CupCycling technology. The manufacturer will use the recovered material to create paper for future Little Coffee Cup products, keeping materials in use rather than discarding them.
According to James Cropper, the CupCycling process sits at the centre of its circular approach to fibre recovery. The technology transforms PE-lined paper cups, traditionally considered difficult to recycle, into high-quality fibre for premium paper applications. While the facility has the capacity to upcycle up to 700 million cups each year, current volumes remain at around 58 million cups recycled annually. The company notes that this gap highlights a critical challenge where infrastructure exists but public participation remains the limiting factor.
Hayley Slack, author of Little Coffee Cup, comments on the project. She says, “With millions of disposable cups used annually in the UK, initiatives such as this demonstrate how coordinated action across supply chains, supported by community engagement, can contribute to more effective material recovery. By linking storytelling with infrastructure and local partnerships, the project illustrates how circularity can be embedded not only in products, but in the systems that support them.”
Stephanie Walker, Head of Technical at James Cropper, adds, “The initiative highlights how regional partnerships can play a critical role in advancing circular economy principles. By combining local expertise, venue-based collection, and specialist recycling capability, the project provides a tangible example of how materials can be captured, processed, and reintroduced into manufacturing cycles within a defined geographic ecosystem.”
Andrew Cockerill joins James Cropper as Business Development Manager