Tim Hortons and its Nova Scotia recycling partners have announced during National Waste Reduction Week, an effective way to recycle Tim Hortons' hot beverage cups into Tim Hortons take-out trays - trays that can be recycled into more trays. With this made-in-Nova Scotia Cup-to-Tray program, Tim Hortons becomes the first quick-service restaurant in Canada to "close the loop" and recycle used cups into another product it uses.
Over the past two years, Tim Hortons has been working with Scotia Recycling Limited to collect cups at all 156 traditional Tim Hortons restaurants across Nova Scotia and deliver them to Hantsport-based paper product manufacturer CKF Inc. Initially cups were blended with other waste papers and made into a variety of paper products, helping divert Tim Hortons cups from municipal landfills across the province. Now, Tim Hortons and CKF have established a process that converts the cups into take-out trays used at Tim Hortons restaurants and other products, effectively closing the loop on the company's hot beverage cup recycling process in Nova Scotia.
"We support these and other corporate-led initiatives that help us meet our goals to divert a growing percentage of recoverables from landfill." said Gord Helm, Manager, Solid Waste Resources, Halifax Regional Municipality.
The Cup-to-Tray program has the capacity to recycle 100 per cent of Tim Hortons' annual Nova Scotia cup inventory and is just one aspect of the company's Making a True Difference(TM) corporate social responsibility vision. For that vision to be successful, Tim Hortons is now appealing to its guests by asking them to recycle paper cups in Tim Hortons restaurants.
"Having this process of turning used cups into recyclable trays and diverting those cups from landfills is a great success and one we are proud of," said Greg Smith, Senior Manager, Regional Marketing - Atlantic Canada, Tim Hortons. "But the only way for this program to work is for the cups to be brought back to our restaurants and properly recycled. We encourage our guests to join us in keeping Nova Scotia clean by bringing their reusable mugs to Tim Hortons for a 10-cent discount on coffee and by separating all their waste - cups, lids, trays, organics - at our new in-restaurant and drive-through recycling units."
Tim Hortons' new recycling units - custom-built using 98 per cent recycled plastic - make it easy to separate waste into individual compartments - an important step in avoiding contamination of waste and ensuring materials can be properly recycled.
