Climate Solutions
Climate Initiatives
NYC Paper Food Packaging Recycling Pilot
Did you know:
Every year, 58 billion paper cups are used in the U.S. at restaurants, events and homes. If all paper cups in the U.S. were recycled, 645,000 tons of waste would be diverted from landfills each year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 million mtCO2e, equivalent to removing 450,000 passenger cars from the road. If successful, the pilot could influence the design of all paper food packaging, potentially increasing the benefits above by ten-fold.
Working with corporate partners through its Coalition for Resource Recovery, Global Green is developing a recycling system to process paper foodservice packaging with the corrugated cardboard boxes used to deliver products to restaurants.
Corrugated cardboard is the most recycled material in the U.S, and restaurants that recycle, typically recycle them. By designing paper packaging to be recycled along with corrugated packaging, coffee cups, soda cups, and hamburger and French fry containers can be picked up with the boxes for recycling and be a cost-effective solution that can be implemented by restaurants across North America.
Recycling Pilot Process:
Step 1 - Certify the paper packaging as ‘OCC-Equivalent,’ meaning the material is the same quality as the boxes being recycled.*
Step 2 - Customers separate the paper packaging from other packaging types when disposing of items at the retail location, limiting the possibility for contamination.
Step 3 – Pratt Industries tests the recyclability of the packaging with corrugated boxes to ensure effective processing. Global Green is launching this pilot in partnership with seven Starbucks stores in Manhattan. In the future, we will plan to expand the number of retail partners involved in the pilot, as well as the range of paper packaging collected.
While we’re focusing on recycling paper that is collected in restaurants, our goal is to identify a solution that will work for public space and residential recycling.
To learn more, please download our FAQ here.
This effort is made possible by the members of Global Green’s Coalition for Resource Recovery, Global Green volunteers, the Pratt Institute, and the Turner and Borchard Foundations.
*The paper cups material have been pre-screened for their recyclability using the Fiber Box Association’s Voluntary Standard for Repulping and Recycling Corrugated Fiberboard Treated to Improve Its Performance in the Presence of Water and Water Vapor. The protocol does not account for impacts of prohibitives and outthrows that may be collected in bags of spent material.
Publications
Global Solar Report Card
The Global Solar Report Card by Global Green USA and Green Cross International outlines successes and failures in 16 countries’ (and the state of California’s) efforts in designing promising policy frameworks for sustained solar development. It finds all countries still in the early phases of solar deployment. The ranking is based on a 100-point system that allocates points for the amount of solar installed so far, as well as for drivers of future growth, including financial and regulatory incentives, and educational and advocacy efforts.
DOWNLOAD
Solar City Report: How Los Angeles can Gain the Economic and Environmental Competitive Edge
Global Green USA's proposal for the City of Los Angeles to develop its solar resources by committing to "carving out" 1% (80 megawatts) of its electrical generation capacity for photovoltaic technology. Benefits for the City include economic development opportunities, stabilizing electric rates, improving air quality and reducing green house gas emissions. Winter 2005.
DOWNLOAD
View All Climate Solutions Publications
