The OPRL has announced that paper cups will have their own specialist recycling label to support the wide range of UK paper cup recycling programs

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Paper cups will have their own OPRL Recycling label in the UK. (Credit: Yuri_B from Pixabay)

OPRL (On Pack Recycling Label), the market-leading recycling label not-for-profit in the UK, has launched a new binary labelling system for packaging. This new system combined with the newly developed recycling rules for the UK market move majority of packaging into a binary labelling system i.e. “Recycle” or “Don’t Recycle”. This initiative will give greater transparency on the final fate of packaging, highlighting what gets sorted and reprocessed.

The OPRL has announced that paper cups will have their own specialist recycling label to support the wide range of UK paper cup recycling programs including in store and on-street, office, workplace and industry collections by waste contractors, bring banks and post back schemes.

At Huhtamaki, we design products with circular economy and recyclability in mind and continuously work towards a more sustainable world by paying attention to material choices, helping in building waste collection infrastructure and by guiding people in how to correctly dispose of our food packaging materials to minimize environmental impact and use of resources.

The step to provide clear and transparent information on the final fate of packaging is a welcome move and giving paper cups their own specialist recycling label will help improve the recycling rates and reusability of the materials.

Neil Whittall, Category Director for Specialty Coffee: “This initiative is the result of a collective effort from various stakeholders in the industry coming together to ensure that the collection infrastructure, recycling facilities and awareness to improve recycling of paper cups is provided to people in a transparent manner.”

Huhtamaki paper cups can take this label into use in the coming months. It will be clear to people that they can recycle their used paper cup at any of the participating stores or one of the wide range of collection schemes now in place.

Adds Neil: “We know there is still work to do to increase paper cup recycling and we will continue to work with our customers, partners, collection services to improve awareness and promote recycling as well as the circular economy.”

Source: Company Press Release