Unpacking the Raw Materials used to make Eco-Products Foodservice Packaging: Aluminum Cold Cups

A premium cup for high-volume environments.

Raw Material

Aluminum is a lightweight, highly recyclable and durable material whose strength and corrosion resistance make it well suited for foodservice applications, such as cold beverage cups.

A key advantage of aluminum is its ability to incorporate recycled content without compromising product quality. Aluminum can be recycled repeatedly without degrading its properties, making it an ideal material for the circular economy.

Recycled Content:

The Eco-Products aluminum cold cups are made with 90% recycled aluminum. The recycled aluminum that makes our cold cups comes from two sources:

Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Material: Material from used beverage cans (UBCs) which have been used by consumers and recovered through recycling systems.

Post Industrial Recycled (PIR) Material: Also known as pre-consumer scrap, is material resulting from the supplier's customers’ operations, which can come directly from downstream customers in the form of closed-loop scrap or mixed with market scrap.

Both PCR and PIR reduce the need for virgin aluminum. However, PCR from used beverage cans (UBCs) plays a particularly important role in diverting material from the waste stream and supporting end market demand for recycling systems.

It’s also important to distinguish PIR from internal “run-around scrap” reuse. Material that is reprocessed within the same manufacturing operation is considered production efficiency and is not classified as recycled content.

Product Attributes and Characteristics

Eco-Products BlueStripe™ aluminum cold cups are designed to provide a durable, high quality option for cold beverage service. The lineup includes a variety of sizes: 12 oz, 16 oz, 20 oz, and 24 oz, giving operators flexibility across different drink types and service environments.

Aluminum is well suited for cold beverage applications where strength, temperature resistance, and a premium feel are important. Its rigid structure allows cups to maintain their shape during handling, transport, and extended use, making them a dependable option for high traffic venues and events.

Benefits for Operators Include:

• Premium look and feel – The sleek metallic finish and BlueStripe design create a more elevated presentation, making them well suited for premium seating areas, bars, and special events
• Simplified bin decisions – The clear visual and material difference helps guests and staff quickly identify the cups as recyclable aluminum, supporting cleaner streams and more accurate sorting
• Easy to collect – Aluminum cups fit seamlessly into existing recycling streams, allowing operators to incorporate them into current collection systems without significant changes to infrastructure
• Heat resistant – Designed to perform in warm and outdoor environments, and won’t melt, warp, or soften in hot weather
• Sturdy performance – Durable enough for customers to use for refills for the duration of an event or extended use
• Supports sustainability goals and initiatives – Made with high recycled content and fully recyclable, these cups offer a visible step toward enhanced recycling diversion and circularity efforts

Beginning-of-Life (BOL) Certification Options

There are a variety of beginning-of-life (BOL) certification options that help verify recycled content in aluminum products. As aluminum is a brand-new raw material to the Eco-Products product offering, it currently does not have a BOL certification. We will work with our suppliers toward obtaining the appropriate BOL certification for this material.

Beginning-of-life (BOL) certification options for aluminum focus on how the aluminum is sourced and produced, with an emphasis on verifying recycled content and ensuring chain of custody throughout the supply chain.

Third-party certifications help validate the percentage of recycled aluminum used in a product. These certifications provide transparency and help ensure that recycled content claims are credible and consistently measured.

There are several framework options to verify aluminum sourcing and recycled content, including:

• Aluminum Stewardship Initiative (ASI) - A global standards and certification program focused on responsible production, sourcing, and stewardship across the aluminum value chain. ASI primarily focuses on the chain of custody for aluminum.
• SCS Global – A third-party certification that verifies recycled content, both pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled.
• UL Solutions – A third-party certification that evaluates the total recycled content in products, including post-consumer and pre-consumer content.

End-of-Life

Aluminum offers significant advantages at its end of life due to its ability to be recycled repeatedly without losing quality. In fact, aluminum is often considered “infinitely recyclable”. This makes it one of the most valuable and widely recovered materials in the recycling stream, representing only 3% of the weight but around 30% of the value in residential recycling bins for single-family households in the US.

Thanks to its durability and recyclability, alongside having widespread acceptance into curbside recycling programs or store collection take-back programs, aluminum remains in circulation for long periods of time. It’s estimated that 75% of the aluminum ever produced is still in use today.

Recycling aluminum also delivers substantial environmental benefits. It uses approximately 95% less energy than producing aluminum from virgin aluminum, resulting in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In foodservice settings, aluminum’s value in the recycling stream can help support stronger recovery outcomes. When captured, aluminum is more likely to be recycled due to its high economic value and well established end markets.

Unlike other foodservice items that can be impacted by food residue, aluminum cold beverage cups are typically less prone to contamination, which helps to improve their potential for recovery in recycling systems. Effective collection and recycling help support a more circular system by keeping material in use and reducing the need for virgin resource extraction, making aluminum cold cups a strong candidate for recovery at end of life in foodservice applications.

Our new aluminum cold cups will be part of our BlueStripe™ line of products, helping to increase end-market demand for recycled materials and further strengthen markets for aluminum recycling.