together, we can solve the paper cup waste problem.

Did you know that over 50 billion paper cups are sent to U.S. landfills EACH YEAR?

Traditional paper cups often get diverted to U.S. landfills due to the difficulty recyclers have processing the plastic-coated paper cup materials into high-grade recycled paper products using conventional paper recycling equipment. This results in approximately 700,000 tons of virgin paper cup stock being thrown away each year.

The reCUP® Recycling Initiative aims to solve this problem by providing businesses, retailers, office buildings, schools and venues with a closed-loop collection program for paper cups made with EarthCoating®. Our goal is to divert as much waste as we can from our landfills and oceans.

Currently, our domestic reCUP® Recycling Initiative partners are serving Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego CA counties and Reno/Sparks, NV. Our new 2020 reCUP® Recycling Initiative for San Francisco and surrounding areas is now accepting new retailers looking to close-loop their paper cups made with EarthCoating®. We also have international closed-loop collection partners working in Australia and the UK.

For those of you interested in helping us to further expand our initiative, please contact us to discuss the details. We need your support in order to make the impact we hope to make.

How It Works

Learn about the paper cup recycling problem and how you can make a difference. Together, we can solve the paper cup recycling problem.

Action Items

Get started by using reCUPs as an alternative to traditional paper cups to reduce plastic usage and divert waste from landfills.

Join today!

Join our community and become part of the solution. We're in need of your support and look forward to working with you!

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The Problem

Each year, over 50 billion paper cups are buried in U.S. landfills due to the difficulty paper recyclers have processing plastic-coated paper cup stock through their conventional paper recycling equipment.

This problem is compounded by consumer confusion due to various "greenwashing" and misinformation being shared by various companies trying to gain new marketshare. In order for a sustainable packaging alternative to be considered, it should address all of the performance, economic, environmental, safety and availability criteria.

To learn more about this, download our Repulpability Report and visit reCUP.earth

The Solution

Make cups that are valuable and easy to pulp into recycled paper

The first step to getting paper cups recycled in the U.S. is to make them valuable and easy for paper recyclers to pulp into high-grade recycled paper products using conventional paper recycling equipment. This is where Smart Planet Technologies comes in. Our reCUPs use a mineral-enriched barrier coating called EarthCoating® that makes reCUPs easy to process through conventional recycling infrastructure, while using 40-51% less plastic.

Increase usage Rates so there are lots of reCUPs for recyclers to collect

The next step is to increase reCUP usage so there are lots of them for recyclers to collect. This is where you come in. Once you start using reCUPs, we'll add you to the list of locations our recycling partners can pick them up from. The more businesses we can encourage to participate, the more of an impact we can make.

Join the reCUP® Recycling Initiative and start using reCUPs

Now that reCUPs are valuable to collect, reCUP® Recycling Initiative partners are ready to provide businesses, retailers, office buildings, schools and venues with a way to use less plastic and divert waste from our landfills and oceans.

together, we can solve the paper cup recycling problem.

For every ton of paper recycled, we save the energy equivalent of using 165 gallons of gasoline.

Source: Environmental Protection Agency