Environmental campaigns: National Cup Recycling Scheme

Leading the way in AI powered cup recycling in Cardiff

In 2025, Keep Wales Tidy joined forces with Plovie (formerly Bower) and the National Cup Recycling Scheme to deliver a world first pilot designed to tackle the growing issue of disposable paper cup waste in Cardiff city centre.

Supported by major high street brands including Caffè Nero, Costa Coffee, Greggs, McDonald’s and Pret a Manger, the initiative tested an innovative approach that combined AI enabled cup recognition with digital rewards to encourage on the go recycling. The objective was simple but ambitious: make cup recycling easy, rewarding and visible, and use data driven insights to learn how businesses, workplaces and consumers can work together to reduce waste and protect our environment.

The pilot proved that when organisations collaborate with trusted partners like Keep Wales Tidy and the National Cup Recycling Scheme, real change is possible.

Across participating locations, paper cup waste in general bins fell by 70%, with an 83% reduction for cups from participating brands. Nearly 3,400 cups were correctly recycled through the Plovie app, saving 50.99 kg of CO₂, while users recycled an average of 20 cups each, showing promising behaviour change. The digital challenge element also worked particularly well, with the campaign seeing more than 78% of people who started the Cup Challenge completed it.

Beyond the data, the campaign united multiple competing brands, strengthened store level engagement, and reached commuters, office workers and city centre visitors through social media, out of home advertising, press activity and instore promotion. For many partners, this was an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in sustainability, trial new technology, and engage staff and customers in a fresh, motivating way.

For businesses and organisations, this pilot highlights what is possible when innovation is paired with strong local partnerships and trusted environmental expertise. Keep Wales Tidy played a central role in coordinating activity on the ground, supporting participating stores, leading public engagement and delivering robust environmental analysis.

The pilot not only delivered measurable reductions in waste but also generated valuable insights that will shape the next phase of recycling innovation. Moving forward, it is clear that there is a need to focus on staff engagement, consistent messaging, accessibility of recycling points and the growing need to integrate reuse and recycling in a clear and practical way.

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