The total number of U.S. paper mills accepting paper cups is now more than 40, marking “significant progress” since the end of last year.

Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is asking residents to recycle their clean and empty paper cups and other takeout containers.

Two-thirds of foodservice packaging is for to-go orders and winds up back in consumers’ homes. FPI conducted a resident survey looking for insight to inform messaging around recycling and to home in on missed recovery opportunities.

In December 2023, FPI held a webinar that shared information on the effect of images, language and special instructions related to recycling take-out containers. We also learned about best practices and tools, and heard real-world examples of resident education from communities and haulers.

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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.

FPI released a summary of findings from its Resident Messaging Survey, sharing information related to resident assumptions on recyclability, awareness of what items can be recycled, and top sources of recycling instructions. The survey focused on recycling messaging related to take-out items such as plastic cups and containers, paper cups and pizza boxes.   

FPI released a summary of findings from its Resident Messaging Survey, sharing information related to resident assumptions on recyclability, awareness of what items can be recycled, and top sources of recycling instructions. The survey focused on recycling messaging related to take-out items such as plastic cups and containers, paper cups and pizza boxes.   

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FPI has launched more than 20 community partnerships, utilizing collaboration and communication to identify, test and increase acceptance of food service packaging for recycling. At the heart of each of these recycling success stories are the MRF-to-mill pathways.

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Eco-Products has launched a new program that will help foodservice operators keep non-compostable items from contaminating their compostable organics streams. Research done in 2022, the CompostAble Chicago study, found that restaurants and other vendors may divert more food scraps and other materials from landfills if they adopt compostable packaging into their operations.

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FPI has launched more than 20 community partnerships, utilizing collaboration and communication to identify, test and increase acceptance of food service packaging for recycling. At the heart of each of these recycling success stories are the MRF-to-mill pathways.

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A new materials recovery facility (MRF) has opened in Chicago with equipment thanks to a collaborative grant from the Carton Council of North America and the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI).

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Industry consultants on a recent Foodservice Packaging Institute webinar described three studies examining food service packaging recovery.

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