Sonoco Expanding Residential Recycling of Paper Cups to its Mill in Hartsville, SC

July 5, 2022 - Sonoco today announced it is expanding post-consumer recovery and recycling opportunities for paper cups in bales of mixed paper to be used as raw material at its Hartsville, South Carolina, paperboard mill to produce new paperboard.

All of Sonoco's United States paper mills have previously validated that they can accept rigid paper cans in bales of mixed paper coming from residential Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). This new announcement extends acceptance to paper cups at the Hartsville mill. Additional testing is underway with the aim of expanding cup recycling to all Sonoco mills that utilize residential mixed paper.

"Sonoco is uniquely positioned as a leading recycler, paper mill operator and paper packaging converter to help push the industry to look towards future innovations and grow end of life solutions across the entire paper value chain," said Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President of Global Environmental, Sustainability, and Centralized Technology. "After validating that our mills could recycle EnviroCan paper containers in residential mixed paper, we decided to further demonstrate the ability to recycle other similar polycoated fiber-based containers through the post-consumer mixed paper stream."

This collaboration across Sonoco's U.S. vertically integrated manufacturing network further demonstrates the flexibility the Company possesses to recycle and process fiber-based packaging through conventional paper mill pulping systems.

"Paper cups are made with materials that are highly desirable to paper mills because of its ability to improve new products with recycled fiber," said Natha Dempsey, President of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. "Those paper mills, including Sonoco, who are a part of the Paper Cup Alliance have committed to supporting the industry in building the infrastructure and developing the practices that make paper?the?best choice for anyone who cares about the future of our planet."

Founded in 1899, Sonoco (NYSE: SON) is a global provider of consumer, industrial, healthcare and protective packaging. To learn more, visit: www.sonoco.com

SOURCE: Sonoco