Introduction

More communities throughout the U.S. and Canada are successfully recovering foodservice packaging. However, the specific material and packaging types recovered vary by community and the available resources. 

As communities consider adding foodservice packaging to a curbside program, it is important to have an idea of how much material this will generate. In a city of 250,000 people, roughly 3,000 tons of cups, containers, boxes and paper bags are generated annually. About 75% of this material is fiber. A ten percent recovery rate – which is a realistic initial goal for new materials – would mean the addition of about 300 tons annually being sent to a material recovery facility (MRF), consisting of approximately 230 tons of paper and 70 tons of plastic.