PHILADELPHIA, PA — Plastic and paper cups long tossed into trash bins across Philadelphia are now at the center of a city-led push to reshape what Americans can recycle.
The City of Philadelphia announced a new commitment to accept polypropylene plastic cups and paper to-go cups in its recycling stream, a move officials say will unlock broader national recycling designations and keep an estimated 1.5 million pounds of material out of landfills each year.
By expanding what residents can place in curbside bins, the city is helping both materials qualify for new recycling standards under How2Recycle, the widely used on-pack disposal labeling system. The effort supports a national goal for more than 60 percent of U.S. residents to have access to curbside recycling for polypropylene beverage cups and for at least 20 percent of communities to accept paper cups.
City officials said the additional materials will be processed through Philadelphia’s existing curbside program and sent to the WM Philadelphia recycling facility, giving discarded cups a second life instead of a one-way trip to the landfill.
“The City of Philadelphia aims to improve quality of life in all neighborhoods,” said Scott McGrath, environmental planning director for the City of Philadelphia Department of Sanitation. He said the city’s participation is designed not only to benefit local residents but also to accelerate recycling acceptance nationwide.
As plastic and paper to-go cups appear in growing volumes at recycling facilities, WM, North America’s largest recycler, recently added both materials to its universal list of accepted recyclables. That change, officials said, helped speed the path for local programs to begin collecting the cups curbside.
Philadelphia’s leadership is expected to influence other municipalities weighing similar updates to their recycling rules, potentially expanding access far beyond city limits.
“We applaud Philadelphia for leading the effort to add plastic and paper cups to the city’s acceptable materials list,” said Tara Hemmer, chief sustainability officer for WM. She said the move is likely to boost resident confidence in recycling systems while improving overall capture rates.
The initiative also positions Philadelphia as an early adopter in the evolving national recycling landscape, where acceptance rules vary widely by location and confusion often sends recyclable materials into the trash.
City officials said the goal is straightforward: make recycling simpler, recover more material, and prove that everyday items — even disposable cups — can play a role in reducing waste when the system is built to handle them.
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