Costa Coffee, McDonald's & Others To Trial AI-Powered Cup Recycling Projects – CoffeeTalk

A trial scheme aims to reward consumers for recycling used cups at major stores like Pret a Manger, McDonald’s, Greggs, Caffe Nero, and Costa Coffee. Funding comes from a joint fund set up through the National Cup Recycling Scheme. Waste sorting app Bower is providing its world-first cup screening system for the initiative, using photographic detection to allow customers to scan their cup returns and claim a 5p reward per cup. The AI object detection technology used by Bower was developed in collaboration with Google.

The project will gather data for future use through surveys created by Valpak, administrator of the National Cup Recycling Scheme, and Keep Wales Tidy. Bower will track demographic data and usage of its recycling app to determine engagement with the new scheme. Keep Wales Tidy is overseeing an awareness-raising campaign.

Valpak’s national cup recycling manager, Hannah Osman, said that by funding this project, they are helping to drive real change in consumer recycling habits while ensuring valuable cup materials are kept in circulation. The scheme tackles the continuing challenge of single-use cup recycling, as the UK disposes of around 2.5 billion paper cups every year, most often as litter or in a landfill.

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