Community Partnership | Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation
In March 2024, Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) partnered with FPI to promote recycling of clean and empty paper cups and other takeout containers. This campaign provides residents with an extra round of outreach and education.
Chicago began accepting paper cups in its recycling program in 2023 after working with FPI to engage with the material recovery facilities (MRFs) sorting the city’s recycled materials. FPI previously partnered with two of Chicagoland’s haulers, Groot Industries and LRS to add paper cups to their accepted materials list and to conduct outreach to their residential customers. You can read more about those efforts in the Groot Case Study and the LRS Summary.
In 2024, Chicago DSS worked with FPI to create messaging and graphics that convey the ability to recycle paper cups alongside other, already accepted take-out containers, including—paper bags, molded fiber carriers and cartons, and aluminum foil food packaging. Ads instructing residents to put empty and clean takeout containers loose in their recycling carts are posted in Chicago Transit Authority buses and stations, on digital billboards, and even during movie previews in local theaters.
More than 2.6 million residents in the city of Chicago are seeing messages around town and on social media that ask them not to trash their takeout packaging, but to recycle it.
Foodservice Packaging Materials Accepted
Paper cups*
Paper bags
Molded fiber food packaging
Alumninum Foil Food Packaging
*New items added during partnership
More Case Studies
The Mid-America Regional Council Solid Waste Management District (MARC SWMD), the regional solid waste planning agency serving local governments across the Kansas City metropolitan region, and FPI collaborated to add paper and plastic cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce recycling other already accepted takeout packaging.
First Star Recycling and FPI collaborated to add paper cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce recycling other already accepted takeout packaging.
C&S Waste Solutions and FPI collaborated to add hot and cold beverage cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce simple recycling best practices.
Grand Traverse County, MI, residents can reduce waste by recycling their clean, empty paper cups and pizza boxes in curbside recycling carts and at local drop-off centers.
Over 500,000 households in the Hampton Roads region of Virgina, can now recycle hot and cold paper cups as part of their recycling program.
Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is asking residents to recycle their clean and empty paper cups and other takeout containers.
FPI awarded Groot a communications grant to inform residents about newly added recyclable materials, emphasizing the inclusion of paper cups, and reiterating the importance of ensuring all recyclables are clean and empty before placing in recycling carts.
Following the installation of the robotic sorter, the City of Madison, Pellitteri, and FPI collaborated on a focused educational campaign aimed at informing residents and customers about the recent modifications to the recycling program.
ACC's longstanding partner mills readily accepted bales containing paper cups. FPI facilitated discussions between RMPF and the mills, and ACC broadened its list of acceptable items to include paper cups and paper take-out containers.
Leveraging FPI's track record of successful community partnerships as evidence of paper cup recyclability, and securing approval from St. Lucie's collaborating mills, the County began including paper cups in its mixed paper bales.
The County’s strong commitment to sustainability made it an ideal candidate to expand its recycling program to incorporate a range of foodservice items, like cups and containers, through an FPI Community Partnership.
Clark County began incorporating paper cups, along with a variety of other paper foodservice items, into its mixed paper bales. The MRF subsequently sold this high-quality fiber to local paper mills in the region, where it could be reprocessed into new products.
Following the FPI’s market-based approach, the parties communicated regarding the proposed change in Sioux Falls' recycling program to ensure alignment between Millennium Recycling and its partner mill, WestRock in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Sustana committed to providing an off-take agreement for a combined paper cup/carton bale produced at the Alpine MRF in Denver. Following this change, the city of Denver carried out a targeted educational campaign to notify residents.
More households in Chicago and the surrounding area can now recycle paper cups along with other take-out containers.
More than 182,000 households in the Memphis area are now able to recycle paper cups alongside already accepted foodservice packaging.
FCC Environmental Services has installed new robotic sorting technology at its MRF enabling greater Dallas area residents to recycle paper cups, and improved recycling of food and beverage cartons.
Eight municipalities in the Tulsa metropolitan area with over 252,000 households can recycle hot and cold paper cups.
FPI is working closely with local material recovery facilities (MRFs) and paper mills in North and South Carolina to add paper cups as an acceptable commodity for residential curbside recycling.
