FPA Pushes for Paper Cups to Be Included in Kerbside Recycling

FPA Urges Creagh to Allow Paper Cups to be Collected from Kerbside

The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) announced a fast-tracked rule that says that the packaging that has more than 5% plastic or other non-paper material is called a fibre-based composite. The rule came into immediate action instead of coming January 2026.

The FPA said that the move is a big deal as the packaging containing less than 5% plastic will now be looked upon a paper, which will make the companies pay lower recycling fees.

The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) said this is significant as it means FBC packs with under 5% non-fibre composition by mass are classified as paper and board and, as such, will pay an EPR fee, which, within three years, the FPA anticipates could be a fifth of that for FBCs with over 5% non-fibre content.

Executive director Martin Kersh said that the updated rule is now aligned with the recycling assessment method that helps to bring clarity and reduce the fees. He also said that it helps to make packaging easier through tracking and reporting.

The lower plastic content in the paper cup is also looked at as unrecycled waste, where the director has raised the question of why it can’t be put in regular recycling bins like other low-plastic packaging.

“If the mandatory retailer collection of paper cups hadn’t been cancelled by Minister Mary Creagh, then the banishment from kerbside collections may have made some sense. The minister needs to act – either to allow cups to be collected from the kerbside, given so many contain the same amounts of non-fibre content as packs that are going into bins, and/or (preferably and) set a timetable for the mandatory retailer takeback of paper cups to come into effect. Not to do so leaves paper cups in the equivalent of statelessness. Board-based foodservice packaging now finds itself in a two-tier position as far as EPR is concerned.”