Many California MRFs are successfully recovering foodservice packaging, although the specific material and packaging types recovered vary greatly.
A 2016 study by Moore Recycling found that over half of California MRFs already accept and sort cups, containers, boxes and paper bags.
Accepting cups, containers, boxes and bags can be a valuable differentiator in a competitive market. Recovering these materials helps your customer communities meet their 75% recycling goal and reduce their disposal volumes and costs!
As MRFs consider accepting foodservice packaging, it is important to have an idea of how much material this will generate:
In a city of 250,000 people, roughly 3,200 tons of paper and plastic cups, containers, boxes and bags are generated annually.
That means that at a ten percent recovery rate – which could be a realistic initial goal for new materials – a MRF could expect an additional 320 or so tons of recoverable material each year. This volume consists of approximately 250 tons of paper and 70 tons of plastic.
In addition to MRFs, plastic recovery facilities (PRFs), can also be a component in recycling plastic foodservice packaging. Utilizing cutting-edge sorting technologies, such as optical and gravity sorting, PRFs are able to successfully produce segregated resins, which are often sold domestically to plastic reclaimers. For PRFs, it’s interesting to note a recent study from the Association of Plastic Recyclers revealed:
Cups made up roughly 6% of the sampled pre-picked bales.
Polypropylene was the most prevalent cup material type in all the bales sampled.
Finally, secondary processing facilities are another option to recycle foodservice packaging that may not have been sorted in a MRF. The residue, or unsorted materials left on the MRF conveyor belt at the end of the line, typically still contains valuable materials. Many California MRFs send their residue to a secondary processor, which further sorts the material to recover and sell paper, plastics, metals, etc. This second sorting process also enables a wider range of materials to be captured for recovery, for which the MRF doesn’t have specialized sorting equipment.
In some California communities, mixed waste processing facilities recover recyclables from unsorted municipal solid waste. This strategy can be employed in situations where recycling participation is lower or where source separation is less reliable, for example waste collected from public spaces or multi-family housing.
RESOURCES
Case Studies
Webinars
Plastic Cup & Container Recycling Update Webinar
Learn about recent research on PET and PP recycling, information on bale specifications, insights on the latest material sorting in MRFs, and examples of transforming recycled plastics into new products in this webinar.
Webinar Recording: Insights into Effective Resident Education
This webinar shared findings from the 2022 nationwide survey that gauged the effect of images, language and special instructions in communicating with residents about recycling take-out containers like paper and plastic cups, pizza boxes, and clamshells.
Webinar Recording: Recycling Pizza Boxes, Paper Cups, and other Paper-Based Takeout Containers
Hear from representatives from a material recovery facility (MRF), a paper mill, and a community who are recycling pizza boxes, paper cups, and other paper-based takeout packaging. Learn how they they are able to recycle these materials, the impacts of food residue, and the importance of strong and continuous resident education. Click here to watch the webinar.
Webinar Recording: Research Findings
This webinar featured research findings from several FPI-supported studies including recovery of PET thermoforms, PP cups, paper cups, and the impact of food residue on take-out packaging recycling.
Community Partnerships Webinar
Since its launch in 2017, FPI’s Community Partnership Program has impacted hundreds of communities and enabled over 5.4 million households to recycle their cups and containers. Watch this webinar to learn about the partnership approach, resources available to communities, and impact from actual community partners.
Paper Cups
The State of Paper Cup Recycling
A new white paper, authored by Moore & Associates, delves into the evolving landscape of paper cup recovery efforts in the U.S. and Canada including recycling challenges, technical aspects of material sorting and processing, and end markets utilizing recovered cups.
Paper Mill Statement
In 2021, a group of prominent paper mills and end markets signed a declaration of acceptance and a commitment to increasing recycling of paper cups.
Paper Cup End Markets
The number of mills accepting paper cups is growing. Check out our list of confirmed markets for paper cups across North America.
Research and Studies
Impact of Foodservice Packaging on Existing Bales
Adding foodservice packaging to existing bales makes very little difference to their composition. Read more about the estimated prevalence of foodservice packaging in bales. To test the impact of paper foodservice packaging in mixed paper bales, a bale audit was conducted with bales purchased from New York City and Seattle markets. Read more about the overview of the study.
Plastic Cups Bale Sort Study
As part of the most comprehensive post-consumer plastic container bale sorts done in North America, this plastic cups bale sort study updated for 2021 showed which rigid plastic bales contained plastic cups as well as the plastic resin types and volumes of plastic cups in each bale type. Read more about the results of this study.
Residential Composting & Foodservice Packaging: Eight Program Case Studies
This study examines the diversity of existing residential curbside collection programs for food scraps and compostable packaging. FPI analyzed eight exemplary programs to gain a deeper understanding of their key features, identify the main challenges they face, and highlight their successful strategies.
Current Acceptance of Foodservice Packaging in California
To understand the extent of acceptance and recycling of foodservice packaging in California, FPI commissioned two studies. Taken together, they highlight an opportunity to increase recovery by aligning residential program guidance with MRF acceptance. The two California studies are summarized here.
Info Sheet for MRFs in California
For an overview of foodservice packaging recovery and how it could work for your MRF, download our go-to information sheet here.
End Markets
For MRFs to accept materials, there must be end markets! For more information about End Markets, visit our end markets page or view an interactive map of end markets for a variety of foodservice packaging materials.
Food Residue Study
Some communities have expressed concern about adding foodservice packaging to a recycling program because of food residue. But, a recent study has shown that foodservice packaging is no more contaminated with food than other commonly recycled food-contact items like bottles, jars or cans. Read more about the 2022 study.
Polypropylene Recovery
Markets for postconsumer polypropylene are on the rise. Read more about polypropylene recovery and end market demand for this resin.