London, England — An unparalled achievement in sustainability has been reached as UK’s reCUP recyclable paper cup with EarthCoating, has been awarded the highest possible, “Category AAA Recyclable” certification per The Green Dot (Der Grune Punkt) recycling standards. In addition, the paper cups are classified for recycling compatibility and collection streams alongside premium uncoated paper grades such as office paper. The Green Dot recognizes standards for recyclability claims in 31 countries including the UK and Ireland.
Given the UK’s coffee cup recycling debate and interest in reducing plastic content in packaging, it is a remarkable achievement for a paper cup technology to not only achieve the highest rating available for recyclability qualifying for a collection category alongside office paper, but also reducing plastic content in paper cups by 40%.
The reCUP utilizes EarthCoating, a paperboard packaging coating producing paper cups that look the same and work just as well as any conventional paper cups. The difference is that EarthCoating is designed to be universally compatible with conventional paper cup recycling systems, avoiding the challenges that have been found in recycling of paper cups and other coated foodservice paperboard packaging.
With less plastic and easier repulping, paper cups with EarthCoating can also improve paper cup processing and efficiency in the UK’s efforts in specialist paper cup recycling schemes of conventional paper cups, currently at a 4% recycling rate.
The double-wall reCUP receiving certification contains these distinctive highlights:
* 95% fiber recovery * Highest classification for recyclability alongside premium uncoated paper such as office paper * 40% less plastic content than conventional paper cups
“EarthCoating continues to enable a new direction in the recycling of paperboard foodservice packaging” says Chris Tilton, Chief Materials Technology Officer at Smart Planet. “Paperboard packaging with EarthCoating is engineered for recycling and valuable to recyclers to collect and recycle, while maintaining the required levels of packaging performance. The certification demonstrates the ability to take immediate steps to solve the problem, using any and all of the UK recycling infrastructure and programs.”
This certification for paper cups with EarthCoating is compliant with the Packaging Recovery Organization Europe “PRO” program per EU Directive 94/62.
The Triple-A Green Dot Certificate is available in the EarthCoating Repulping Report at http://www.smartplanettech.com
Paper cups with EarthCoating are widely available for sale in the UK and Ireland. For a list of manufacturers and distributors of paper cups with EarthCoating, please visit Smart Planet Technologies or reCUP.earth.