Community Partnership | Groot Industries: Chicago Region
FPI worked with a major waste management service provider in the Chicagoland area to add paper cups as an acceptable commodity for residential curbside recycling. This effort includes understanding operational and equipment setup, end market availability and cost effectiveness.
Groot Industries, serving approximately 200,000+ households in the Chicagoland area, added paper cups as an acceptable commodity for recycling. The 30 communities serviced by Groot in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties can recycle paper cups in residential curbside recycling programs along with already accepted foodservice packaging items, such as pizza boxes, plastic cups and aluminum foil food packaging.
Communities serviced by Groot will see messaging, developed with support from FPI, informing them how to recycle paper cups and reduce contamination in the recycling stream. Groot customers will see messaging via social media, a website banner, truck wraps, customized online video and Spotify ads.
Once the paper cups enter the recycling system, they can be used by mills in the Great Lakes region to make new paper products that consumers use every day, like paper towels, toilet paper, napkins and other paper products.
FPI is also working with other stakeholders in the region to expand the reach of these additions and the educational campaign.
Foodservice Packaging Materials Accepted
Paper cups*
Paper bags
Pizza boxes
Molded fiber food packaging (carriers/containers/egg cartons)
Aluminum foil food packaging (containers/pans/trays)
PET cups
Polypropylene cups
Polypropylene tubs/containers/tray
*New items added during partnership
