Characteristics and Material Flows of Diary Packaging in Municipal Solid Waste: A Case Study of Plastic Yoghurt Cups in Vienna

ABSTRACT

Yoghurt cup packaging has received increasing attention regarding design‐for‐recycling. Packaging technologies like the three‐component (3C) cup, consisting of a plastic cup, carton wrap and aluminum cover, reduce the amount of plastic needed. While individual components are well recyclable if consumers correctly separate and dispose of them after consumption, no data regarding consumer separation behavior of yoghurt cups is available. This study offers a detailed characterization of 3C cups and other yoghurt cup decoration types (2C) regarding their dismantling stage and content in mixed municipal solid waste and lightweight packaging waste in Vienna, Austria. The results show that 3C cups represent one of the largest shares of yoghurt cup decoration types, totaling over 42 Mio cups/year (645 t/year) in Vienna. Both 2C and 3C cups are better dismantled when separately collected. However, 95% of all cups land in mixed municipal solid waste and are unavailable for recycling. Separately collected 3C cups with carton wrap additionally hinder the correct sorting of cups in a sorting facility. Lacking participation of consumers regarding dismantling and correctly disposing of yoghurt cups can therefore compromise design‐for‐recycling efforts. Continued monitoring of yoghurt cup quality and content in different waste streams is recommended to better understand consumer behavior.