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Friday 9 August 2019
An estimated 500 billion single-use plastic cups are used globally each year. If a plastic cup falls out of the waste cycle, it will take approximately 450 years to degrade naturally. During degradation the plastics break-down into microplastics, which may be ingested by wildlife. Those cups which do move through the waste system are predominantly sent to landfill (≥65%) or are downcycled (to a lower quality/less valuable product).
Byrne Bros. currently uses approximately 2 million single-use plastic cups a year. As part of our continued drive to minimise waste, we have provided 700 reusable aluminium bottles to our site staff to replace plastic cup utilisation. When the aluminium bottles reach their useable lifespan, they will be recycled into new aluminium products (as opposed to downcycled).