A consortium led by Costa Coffee will trial methods to increase the amount of coffee cups being recycled.

Investment company Landsec has joined forces with a consortium of coffee retailers across the country to change the lifecycle of disposable cups and improve the sustainability of the sector.

Landsec retail centres Bluewater, Trinity Leeds and Gunwharf Quays are running trials to find out the best way to encourage customers to dispose of their cups, with new bins and signs to be installed at each of the three destinations.

The trial aims to reduce the risk of recycling contamination and increase the rate of recovery.

It aims to ensure that once collected, used coffee cups are distributed to a suitable mill – it suggests this can be achieved by brokering better relationships between coffee retailers and waste companies.

Landsec Sustainability Manager Tom Byrne said: “Problems of this scale cannot be eradicated by one organisation or even one industry alone.

“The complexities of supply chains are such that we need to view sustainability issues holistically, to drastically reduce the amount of waste that doesn’t get recycled.”