Recycling can be frustrating.
Coffee cups have plastic liners in them, making them not recyclable.
Further, when raw materials are cheaper, recycling isn’t the preferred option. The key with the coffee issue is simply to never get a coffee cup- don’t expect your cup to get recycled- empty or not, in a special bin or not.
Another factor- employees may not be trained on what goes where. Or it could be the opposite- they’re specifically trained that the coffee cups get trashed.
Why would this be? They’re considered a contaminant by the waste hauler, and there’s often fees associated with contaminating recycling loads.
Coffee shops need to further incentivize bringing your own mug… only way I can think of is to increase the discount off your coffee to the point that it’s simply insane not to bring your own mug. Can’t take away from precious gigantic corporate profits. Can’t have that, now can we… christ.