Food Packaging

Our Goal

The CoRR goal for this program is to recycle paper cups and fast food packaging, along with corrugated cardboard, into valuable, high-quality materials.

Every year, 58 billion paper cups[1] are consumed in the US. The majority of paper cups are sent to the landfill due to non-recyclable cup coatings and ineffective in-store mechanisms for sorting paper packaging from food waste and other packaging materials.

If all paper cups in the US were recycled, 645,000 tons[2] of waste would be diverted from the landfill resulting in the following benefits:[3]

Solution

Working with corporate partners, Global Green seeks to design and recycle paper food packaging generated at quick service restaurants with old corrugated cardboard (OCC), the most extensively recycled material in the world. Certified paper food packaging OCC-equivalent[4] will be bundled and collected with OCC, providing a cost effective collection system for the food packaging and recycling the fiber into valuable packaging products.

Project Plan

The pilot objective is to demonstrate that fiber-based food packaging certified as OCC Equivalent provides equivalent performance to OCC in the containerboard recycling stream at four times the anticipated volume. A 7 store test collecting OCC-Equivalent certified hot cups and sleeves will commence in Manhattan in early September 2008. This proof of concept will serve as the foundation for continued growth and expansion in 2010 and 2011 to achieve the 20% concentration or 7 tons of material to irrefutably demonstrate economic and environmental benefits of restaurants recycling spent food packaging with OCC at restaurants throughout North America.

Success Stories

Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery Launches Foodservice Recycling Pilot at Seven Starbucks Stores in Manhattan

New York City, September 10, 2009: Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery today announced the launch of its recycling program at seven Starbucks stores in Manhattan. The pilot will test the collection and recycling of coffee cups when combined with old corrugated cardboard (OCC), the most extensively recycled material in the United States. The objective of this program is to develop a cost effective mechanism to close the loop on paper packaging, reducing greenhouse gases and assisting municipalities in reaching their solid waste diversion goals. For more information about the pilot, please visit:http://www.globalgreen.org/recycling.

Major Food Chains and Packaging Companies Initiate Innovative Recycling Campaign in NYC — Starbucks Leads Coalition by Announcing a 15 Store Pilot Test in Manhattan

On June 25th, 80 participants for a “value chain caucus” aimed at diverting prepared food packaging from the nation’s landfills.The Manhattan meeting followed Starbuck's Recyclable Cup Summit at their Seattle headquarters in May. Characterized as a step toward keeping their promise to promote recycling of their iconic coffee cup and other food and beverage packaging, Starbucks’ Jim Hanna announced that a first trial with 15 of the Company’s stores will ask customers to assist by pre-sorting their cups in specially designed receptacles.

Recycling Fiber-Based Hot Cups with OCC:
Initial Bench Top Research Shows Promising Results

Western Michigan University’s Coating and Recycling Pilot Plant performed initial bench top research on two brands of hot cups mimicking the Fibre Box Association’s protocol for treated corrugated. One brand passed repulpability standards while the other failed. Through WMU’s experience, it appears that there is a very large amount of usable fiber from cup stock heading unnecessarily to landfills and cups could be designed for repulpability that could be integrated within OCC or mixed waste paper streams.

Starbucks' Cup Summit: Does the Cost of Recycling Runneth Over?

Founder’s Circle member, Starbucks, held a ‘Cup Summit’ last week, to align on how to reach its goal of Starbucks Cups being recyclable or compostable by 2012. The article, written by Global Green Board Chair, Scott Seydel, describes the summit and plans for a recycling pilot to be held in Manhattan.

How to Get Involved

• Join the Coalition