Millions of single-use coffee cups will be on their way to the Lake District to be recycled.

Papermaker James Cropper has been selected as a partner on major recycling projects across the country.

The winners of The Cup Fund by Hubbub and Starbucks have been announced and James Cropper, based at Burneside, near Kendal, has been selected as the recycling partner on four of the projects.

An estimated seven million coffee cups collected from cities across the country including Bristol, York, Gloucester and London, will be given a second life using James Cropper’s CupCycling facility.

The cups will be transformed into beautiful packaging, paper and an array of stationery – giving businesses the chance to go green when it comes to paper supplies.

Richard Burnett, market development manager at James Cropper, said: “We are thrilled to have been selected as a partner on these innovative projects.

"Each project will have a significant impact on how Britons recycle their coffee cups, by providing both education and recycling facilities to the public.

“We have recycled over 100 million coffee cups at our CupCycling facility already but have the capacity to for up to 500 million a year.

"Being part of these initiatives will enable us to give more used coffee cups a second life as premium paper and packaging products.

“This is a huge step forward in creating value from the used coffee cup waste stream, and we’re delighted to be part of it.”

The winners will start their projects this month and James Cropper is ready to receive used coffee cups immediately.