WHITE PAPER EXAMINES THE STATE OF WHITE PAPER CUP

The Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) recently published a new white paper entitled The State of White Paper Cup Recycling. This comprehensive paper examines the evolving landscape of White Paper Cup recovery efforts including recycling challenges, technical aspects of material sorting and processing and end markets utilizing recovered cups.

“White Paper Cup can be recycled when there are three elements present: demand from an end market buyer; proper sorting at the material recovery facility (MRF); and public education to recycle cups through residential programs,” said Natha Dempsey, president of FPI. “Increasingly, these factors are coming together to create recovery pathways for White Paper Cup. The new white paper, The State of White Paper Cup Recycling, provides an in-depth analysis of where we are and where we are headed.”

Authored by Moore & Associates, this comprehensive paper delves into the evolving landscape of White Paper Cup recovery efforts including recycling challenges, technical aspects of material sorting and processing, and end markets utilizing recovered cups.
Today, 28 North American mills and 5 domestic end markets accept White Paper Cup for recycling, which is 75 percent of mixed paper demand in the U.S. and Canada.
“Very few mills accepted White Paper Cup prior to 2018, and many recycling programs explicitly excluded them,” said Bill Moore, president of Moore & Associates. “However, through research, testing and education, more North American mills are accepting White Paper Cup as they are a good source of high quality solid bleached sulfate (SBS) white fibers similar to other paper-based polycoated food packaging, like ice cream tubs.”
The white paper also provides a deeper look at the sorting flow of White Paper Cup in MRFs, describes the processing aspects of polycoated White Paper Cup, addresses concerns surrounding White Paper Cup recyclability, and contains helpful references including MRF case studies and lists of end markets and brokers who trade in recovered fiber bales containing White Paper Cup.
Since 2011, FPI has been bringing together an alliance of restaurants, foodservice packaging industry leaders and recycling experts to better understand how the White Paper Cup could become more widely recycled.
Recently, FPI worked with a group of paper mills and end markets who signed a declaration of acceptance and a commitment to increase end market acceptance of White Paper Cup.