Georgia-Pacific expands recycling of PE paper cups at Georgia mill
Savannah River facility now accepts disposable paper cups with plastic coating, increasing fiber recovery for tissue production
Georgia-Pacific announced that its Savannah River mill, located in Rincon, Georgia, has begun accepting polyethylene (PE)-coated paper cups as part of its mixed paper stream for recycling. This marks the third Georgia-Pacific facility to adopt the practice, joining its recycled paper mills in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Muskogee, Oklahoma.
With this expansion, fibers from paper cups can be recovered and reused in the production of tissue products such as bath tissue, paper towels, and napkins – part of the company’s broader strategy to reduce resource consumption and strengthen circularity across its operations.
According to John Mulcahy, vice president of stewardship at Georgia-Pacific, “accepting mixed paper bales containing PE-coated cups at our mills is a significant step” in the company’s long-term commitment to sustainable solutions. Georgia-Pacific is the manufacturer of Dixie branded paper foodservice products.
PE-coated cups have traditionally posed challenges for recycling due to their plastic lining and potential food or liquid contamination. However, Georgia-Pacific has demonstrated through extensive repulping trials that these mills can efficiently recover valuable cup fibers while screening out the plastic coating, allowing the fiber to be reused in tissue paper manufacturing.
This initiative stems from strategic partnerships with the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) and the NextGen Consortium, an industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Kate Daly, managing partner at the Center, emphasized that Georgia-Pacific’s progress “reinforces the value of the materials in paper cups and builds critical markets for these recycled materials”.
Georgia-Pacific is also collaborating with the NextGen Consortium to trial next-generation paper cups that use bio-based, recyclable and/or compostable coatings instead of traditional polyethylene.
With all three facilities now onboard, the company is also working alongside FPI to expand and accelerate the inclusion of PE-coated paper cups in curbside recycling programs across the United States. “We’re proud to work with Georgia-Pacific in its effort to recover and reuse poly-coated paper cups,” said Natha Dempsey, president of FPI.
This initiative not only supports sustainability efforts in the food service industry but also strengthens the tissue value chain – demonstrating how industrial innovation and institutional partnerships can generate both environmental and economic value.
