Kent County Teams with FPI to Increase Recycling of Foodservice Packaging
The Team
Kent County Department of Public Works in Grand Rapids, Michigan, owns and operates a materials recovery facility (MRF) for residential recyclables. The county partnered with the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) to explore the potential of developing a recycling supply chain for paper cups and other single-use foodservice packaging collected in the county. This effort is part of the county’s vision to reduce landfill waste by 90% by 2030.
The Challenge
In 2019, Kent County and FPI kicked off a community partnership campaign that included the addition and promotion for a suite of foodservice packaging — plastic cups, containers, boxes, and paper bags. This partnership coincided with a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) grant award and provided an opportunity to develop a refreshed communications campaign about recycling these items.
The missing material in this initial campaign was paper cups. Kent County was not ready to add this material due to concerns about where the cups would flow in the MRF; the possibility of contaminating other bales; and end-market assurances about paper cups in mixed paper bales. Research was needed to explore the operational feasibility and market implications of adding this material to the recycling program.
The Solution
To begin, a baseline MRF audit was conducted at the Kent County facility. This created a snapshot of the current inbound and residue composition for recyclables the county manages ahead of the new community partnership campaign. Then, consultant Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) sent paper cup samples donated by a Michigan-based cup manufacturer (and FPI member) to the MRF to run a series of tests. These tests would demonstrate where the cups ended up in the MRF sorting lines and bales and would help MRF managers better understand the impact of paper cups on their recovery system.
As part of an already planned upgrade, Kent County replaced the fiber screens at their MRF resulting in a reduced amount of fiber flowing to the container line. The combination of understanding the flow of cups and the installation of new fiber screens, decreased the risk for MRF management around the inclusion of paper cups. To finalize the decision to add paper cups to the program, FPI’s mill members assured the Kent County MRF that they will accept and purchase mixed paper bales with paper cups in them.
The Results
In November 2020, paper cups were added to the Kent County recycling program, reaching over 300,000 households. For the program launch, RRS and FPI worked with Kent County staff to produce a virtual media event at a local coffee shop. RRS and FPI also provided support and production for an outreach campaign for the county’s social media, website, flyers to residents, and other media outreach with a focus on the inclusion of paper cups. The collaboration serves as a case for the increase of paper cup recycling in other regions across Michigan and the United States.
This is one of many examples of public-private partnerships that FPI has engaged in to develop recycling supply chains. Other community partnership programs can be found at www.recyclefsp.org.