Stora Enso and Huhtamaki advance European paper cup recycling initiative with new partners

HUHTAMÄKI OYJ PRESS RELEASE 07.12.2022 AT 12.00 EET

The Cup Collective, a programme founded by Stora Enso and Huhtamaki to capture the value of used paper cups through recycling at an industrial scale, has welcomed its first partners. The new partners include McDonald’s, SSP - The Food Travel Experts, C2 Centre, and the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB), all further supporting the initiative’s ability to significantly increase paper cup recycling volumes in Europe.

The Cup Collective initiative, which is the first of its kind in Europe, aims to recycle half a billion paper cups in Europe within the first two years. The first paper cup collection bins are now available in public venues throughout Brussels including restaurants and transit hubs. Collected cups are recycled in facilities in the region including Stora Enso’s site in Langerbrugge, Belgium. 

Partnership in the Cup Collective is open to a wide range of stakeholders both within and outside of the value chain including food service providers, retailers, transportation services, waste collectors and management services, and other actors across Europe.
  
The initiative today gathered its new partners and other interested stakeholders in Brussels, Belgium for a panel discussion to highlight the programme’s implementation.

Speaking on the day of the event in Brussels, Peter Goodwin, Managing Director and Co-Founder of co-cre8, the firm managing the Cup Collective programme, said: “It is time to make paper cup recycling an easy, everyday activity. We are now able to provide a platform to collect and capture the value of paper cups at an industrial scale and are calling businesses to get on board and become part of the Cup Collective programme.”

Those interested in taking part in this exciting new programme should contact co-cre8 via the Cup Collective at [email protected] or visit thecupcollective.eu. Join us in the bid to develop the right solutions for recycling, leaving no cup behind.

For further information, please contact:

Stora Enso
Mandi Alaterä SVP, Communications & Marketing, Division Packaging Materials
Tel. +358 50 577 4040
[email protected]

Huhtamaki
Richard Ali, VP CommunicationsTel. 
Tel. +44 7387 261412
[email protected]

About Huhtamaki

Huhtamaki is a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions for consumers around the world. Our innovative products protect on-the-go and on-the-shelf food and beverages, ensuring hygiene and safety, driving accessibility and affordability, and helping prevent food waste. We embed sustainability in everything we do. We are committed to achieving carbon neutral production and designing all our products to be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2030.

We are a participant in the UN Global Compact and EcoVadis has awarded Huhtamaki with the Gold medal for performance in sustainability. To play our part in managing climate change, we have set science-based targets that have been approved and validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative.

With 100 years of history and a strong Nordic heritage we operate in 37 countries and 113 operating locations around the world. Our values Care Dare Deliver guide our decisions and help our team of over 19,000 employees make a difference where it matters. Our 2021 net sales totaled EUR 3.6 billion. Huhtamaki Group is headquartered in Espoo, Finland and our parent company, Huhtamäki Oyj, is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Find out more about how we are protecting food, people and the planet at www.huhtamaki.com.