The only thing Dan Currie hates more than litter, is being associated with litter.
That’s why the owner of Vernon’s Tom Hortons restaurants is thrilled with a new program that will see paper cups recycled into take-out trays.
“You see the cups on the ground and we’re trying to clean that up,” said Currie.
“It’s a little step towards improving the environment. We know it’s not going into the landfill.”
The Vernon restaurants are the first Hortons in Western Canada to embrace the Cup-to-Tray program that first began in Nova Scotia in October.
Special units have been installed in the four local restaurants that collect the cups for recycling.
Collection units have also been set up outside the restaurant as a way of discouraging litter.
“People are really happy about recycling our cups,” said Currie since the program began Monday.
Customers will play a critical role in ensuring paper placed in the recycling units remains clean and more waste is diverted from landfills. That means plastic lids will have to be removed from the cups.
“We need people to separate the items before they throw them in,” said Irene Korgul, Tim Hortons environmental affairs specialist.
As part of the new initiative, Tim Hortons has partnered with paper product manufacturer CKF Inc., which takes the paper cups processed by Bluewater Project and converts them into take-out trays.
“There’s been no infrastructure for handling this kind of product,” said Korgul of the cups, which consist of a poly-liner.
“Working with the processors and mills has been the challenge.”
With Vernon now on board, the goal is to expand the Cup-to-Tray program to Hortons across Canada.
“We’ve got Saskatoon that’s possibly close to where we can start shipping cups to a mill,” said Korgul.
