Paper cup recycling added in Madison, Wisconsin

The city of Madison, Wisconsin, has added paper cups to its list of acceptable recyclable materials in its residential recycling program. Pellitteri Waste Systems, which operates a material recovery facility (MRF) near Madison, provides residential and commercial recycling services in and around the Madison community.

According to a joint press release from Pellitteri Waste Systems and the city of Madison, Pellitteri Waste Systems’ MRF recently added sorting technology that would enable it to recycle paper cups along with food and beverage cartons. The company tells Recycling Today that it invested $4.5 million in its MRF to upgrade and enhance sorting systems with optical sorters and robotics. The company says the new technology makes it easier for the MRF to sort 3D paper cups and cartons.

The city and company add that Pellitteri received a grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute, Falls Church, Virginia, and the Carton Council of North America, Denton, Texas, that mostly helps to support the educational promotion of the newly accepted materials. The company told Recycling Today that it did not want to share how much it received in grant funding.

Pellitteri Waste Systems’ residential recycling customers include the Wisconsin cities of Brodhead, Fitchburg, Middleton, Monroe, Sun Prairie and Wisconsin Dells, along with 16 townships, 10 villages and 29 homeowners’ associations in southern Wisconsin. In addition, Pellitteri’s commercial customers can include paper cups in their single-stream recycling bins.