Awarded for their innovative project tackling one of the most persistent sustainability challenges: recycling paper cups.
The project will investigate the barriers to recycling paper cups within mainstream waste systems and develop the first behavioural systems map focused specifically on cup recycling.
Dr Ayşe Allison explains:
"Tackling sustainability challenges is a core priority for the Centre for Behaviour Change. This project provides an exciting opportunity to apply our behavioural science expertise to a new challenge, building on our previous work in complex multi‑stakeholder systems mapping and circular economy. By collaborating with Valpak and other partners, we aim to generate actionable, evidence‑based recommendations that make cup recycling simpler, more accessible, and more effective."
The National Cup Recycling Scheme is administered by Valpak by Reconomy. It is the UK’s largest paper cup recycling scheme. Funded by participating brands – Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Pret a Manger, Caffè Nero, Lavazza Professional, Greggs and Burger King – it brings retailers, waste management companies and UK paper mills together to increase the number of paper cups collected and recycled in the UK.
Hannah Osman, manager of the National Cup Recycling Scheme, congratulated Dr Lucy Porter and Dr Ayşe Allison, saying:
“The range and scope of applications show the appetite for developing new systems and approaches to cup recycling. It was a particularly close call between the top four finalists, but UCL’s bid is a worthy winner. The findings can directly inform future infrastructure design, communication strategies, and the goals of the project – to use systems mapping to identify the key behaviours, barriers and enablers in paper cup recycling, to guide future interventions and policy – closely align with our ambitions to prevent cups from ending up in landfill.”
The announcement was covered in Packaging Scotland, Resource and letsrecycle.com.