The Cup Collective, a program founded by paper and board producer Stora Enso and packaging company Huhtamaki, both based in Finland, has welcomed its first partners to the initiative.
McDonald’s, SSP Group, C2 Centre and the National Railway Company of Belguim (SNCB) have announced they have joined the program, which aims to recycle paper cups on an industrial scale in Europe, maximizing the cups’ value and regenerating them into recycled raw materials.
RELATED: Are coffee cups full of opportunity?
The program launched in September in partnership with Co-Cre8, a United Kingdom-based company that designs and implements recycling programs in Europe. The goal of the Cup Collective is to recycle half a billion paper cups in Europe within its first two years.
“The Cup Collective initiative will create the necessary collection infrastructure to significantly increase the recycling rate of wood-fiber in paper cups,” the companies said at the time of the launch.
The first paper cup collection bins now are available in public venues, like restaurants and transit hubs, throughout Brussels, and collected material is recycled in facilities in the region, including Stora Enso’s site in Langerbrugge, Belgium.
RELATED: Sonoco adds paper cup recycling at Hartsville, South Carolina, mill
“It’s time to make paper cup recycling an easy, everyday activity,” Co-Cre8 co-founder and Managing Director Peter Goodwin said during the panel. “We are now able to provide a platform to collect and capture the value of paper cups at an industrial scale and are calling businesses to get on board and become part of the Cup Collective program.”
Latest from Recycling Today
- Dow, Ambipar working to drive plastic recycling in Brazil
- SABIC recycled PP used in food vacuum system containers
- Cards acquires Ken’s Trash Service
- ArcelorMittal reports reduced income in Q3
- Redwave, Tomra partnership targets zorba
- Umicore postpones Canadian battery materials project
- BIR Autumn 2024: Shifting gears in battery metal markets
- BIR Autumn 2024: Europe’s export clock is ticking