IT'S amazing to note that UK tea and coffee drinkers get through more than 2.5 billion paper cups per year.

Yet a sad fact is that for many years, every one of that huge mountain of cups were unrecyclable, so they all ended up in landfill.

But not any more.

A South Lakes company has perfected a process whereby the cups can be reprocessed, and they have now recycled an incredible 25 million cups with that figure is rising all the time as James Cropper PLC expands its operation.

The issue of single use coffee cups has been an increasingly topical one on recent years, particularly as their use has grown sharply thanks to the boom in the popularity of high street coffee shops.

But while many similar products have been recycled for many years, there was a problem with coffee cups which contain a polyethylene lining which prevents them undergoing such processes.

James Cropper, who are based in Burneside, decided to research the problem and came up with a technique whereby the polyethylene could be separated, with the remaining material then utilised to make high quality paper products.

The machinery used for the process known as 'CupCycling' sprung into action in 2013 after being officially opened by The Queen, and output has increased steadily since then.

The company has struck up a number of high profile arrangements with major retailers including Costa and Selfridges, with the latter's used cups being utilised to make the company's iconic yellow carrier bags.

However, the majority of the cups are supplied by waste collection companies who sort and stack the cups before they arrive at the Burneside plant.

The arrangement has worked well all round, with the clear environmental benefits an added bonus, and with the potential to expand capacity further to recycle 500 million cups per year, the process is set to feature prominently in the years to come.