Community Partnership | First Star Recycling
Background
Foodservice Packaging Materials Accepted
Paper cups*
Paper bags
Pizza boxes
PET cups
PET clamshells/containers/trays
PP cups
PP tubs/containers/trays
PS cups
PS clamshells/containers
Molded fiber food packaging
Alumninum Foil Food Packaging
*New items added during partnership
First Star Recycling is Nebraska’s largest residential and commercial single-stream recycling provider, serving nearly 500,000 households across the state and surrounding communities. Each year, approximately 100,000 tons of recyclables are processed at First Star Recycling’s materials recovery facility (MRF) in Omaha and marketed to manufacturers to become new products.
A key strength of First Star Recycling’s approach is coordination. They align closely with other regional MRFs, including Green Quest and NebraskaLand Recycling, that serve overlapping communities to keep acceptance lists consistent and reduce resident confusion. At the same time, they continue to strengthen their program by expanding accepted materials and prioritizing clear, practical resident guidance.
First Star Recycling maintains a public-facing recycling guide and an A–Z material list, with clear updates when material acceptance changes. They also work directly with municipal customers, including the cities of Lincoln and Omaha, to support consistent messaging, so residents hear the same instructions across channels.
Operations and End Market Planning
First Star Recycling was already ahead of the curve, with two key strengths in place: the company was successfully capturing a broad range of foodservice packaging, and it had also built a dedicated pathway for hard-to-recycle plastics and foam polystyrene through the curbside Hefty ReNew bag program. This program encourages residents to place their plastics and foam in an orange bag in their curbside recycling cart.
With that foundation in place, adding paper cups was a logical and low-risk next step. The MRF already had the operational capability to sort paper cups and include them in mixed paper bales. Additionally, a reliable local fiber end market with Green Fiber Products was already established, where the material is sent for conversion into new products, such as paper towels, toilet paper, and napkins, supporting long-term viability. Given this readiness, the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) selected First Star Recycling as its first community partner in Nebraska.
Outreach and Education
With acceptance confirmed and support from an FPI communications grant, the campaign launched to improve resident recycling knowledge and drive correct recycling behavior. The campaign highlighted paper cup recycling while reinforcing recycling of other commonly accepted takeout materials, including paper bags, pizza boxes, molded fiber items (such as drink carriers), plastic cups and containers, aluminum trays, and foam cups and containers.
Tactics included website updates, social media content, short video animations, digital advertising, and a billboard. To extend the message into high-traffic community spaces, First Star Recycling partnered with a local Scooters Coffee location, providing window clings encouraging customers to recycle paper to-go cups. Across all materials, messaging emphasized a consistent best practice: recyclables should be clean and empty before being placed in carts.
To ensure residents heard the same guidance everywhere, First Star Recycling’s largest municipal customers, the cities of Lincoln and Omaha, updated their recycling guidelines to include paper cups and began communicating the change to residents.
Results
The campaign delivered an estimated 700,000 impressions/reach through the billboard and digital advertising, helping put paper cup recycling on the radar for residents across the region. First Star Recycling and its municipal partners are carrying the message forward through ongoing education and consistent program guidance, often tailoring campaign graphics to align with seasonal holidays. This partnership demonstrates how MRFs and municipalities can expand accepted materials responsibly by pairing operational capability and end market readiness with clear, coordinated resident communications.
Looking Forward
First Star Recycling is continuing to expand what residents can recycle by pairing smart infrastructure investments with clear, scalable program planning. In 2025, the City of Lincoln’s Solid Waste Management Division and First Star Recycling each received a $25,000 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC). The grant funding supported the purchase and use of a densifier at the Omaha MRF, an important operational investment that enables additional recycling of foam polystyrene (PS), such as cups, plates, bowls, takeout containers, egg cartons, and block packaging foam. This capacity is another major step forward for expanding foodservice packaging recovery.
Looking ahead, First Star Recycling is also prioritizing expanded recycling access in rural communities, extending these program improvements to reach more residents across the region.
To learn more about First Star Recycling’s initiative and view a full list of acceptable curbside recyclables, visit www.firststarrecycling.com.
