Line of Cleveland Browns souvenir cups to be made with PureCycle resin

Advanced recycler PureCycle Technologies Inc., Orlando, Florida, has announced that the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns will use 100 percent PureFive resin in their 2025 line of player souvenir cups.

As PureZero partners, the Browns and PureCycle previously have worked together to improve recycling at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland by delivering polypropylene (PP) scrap generated at games to PureCycle’s Ironton, Ohio, recycling facility. Now, the companies are expanding their partnership by introducing sustainable souvenir cups.

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“This season’s introduction of fully circular player souvenir cups is the latest exciting development from our ongoing sustainability efforts,” says Michele Powell, Cleveland Browns vice president of stadium operations and event development. “We’ve worked together with PureCycle for several years to educate fans about recycling at Browns home games and now we’re proud to offer them a sustainable souvenir cup made from recycled PureCycle resin.”

PureCycle CEO Dustin Olson adds that the Browns have been a strong partner since the recycler’s early pilot plant operations, providing souvenir cups for recycling into PureFive resin.

“It’s been gratifying to watch the relationship grow along with our company, and to now have our recycled resin landing in the hands of Browns fans this season is a great moment for both organizations,” Olson says. “We hope that the Browns’ introduction of recycled content in their concession items will help blaze a trail for more organizations across the sports world who are looking to up their sustainability game.”

PureCycle says the Browns are the first professional sports team to introduce the Run It Back line of cups from Lenexa, Kansas-based Churchill Container. The Run It Back line of cups and containers were introduced by Churchill earlier this year and contain up to 100 percent PureFive resin.

“The biggest challenge when creating souvenir cups is finding a resin that is 100 percent postconsumer recycled polypropylene and can meet food safety, appearance, odor and processing requirements," Churchill Product Director Erik Johnson says. “Thanks to PureCycle’s dissolution recycling technology, their PureFive resin looks and performs similarly to traditional virgin polypropylene resins.”

The cups will be available for purchase at the Browns’ first preseason home game Aug. 23.