HUNTINGDON-based manufacturer Solo Cup Europe is the first food packaging manufacturer in Britain to sign a contract that effectively means it can re-use its own discarded products. It has signed a deal with a new facility opened in London by Australia-ba

HUNTINGDON-based manufacturer Solo Cup Europe is the first food packaging manufacturer in Britain to sign a contract that effectively means it can re-use its own discarded products.

It has signed a deal with a new facility opened in London by Australia-based Closed Loop to take recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) to manufacture its disposable cups and other containers for the foodservice and food-to-go sectors.

The contract will enable St Peter's Road-based Solo Cup Europe to be first to market with a range of fully-recycled and recyclable disposable products, marking a step-change in UK food disposables manufacture.

Managing director Tony Waters said: "Obtaining food-grade recycled PET from a UK source is what is significant about this agreement. We have decided against supply from sources outside the UK and of non-food-grade in favour of championing the closed loop principle. This way, packaging used for food products will be recycled back into packaging for food products."

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop London, paid tribute to Solo Cup Europe's vision. "It is the vision and commitment of companies like Solo Cup Europe that have made this new facility happen. They understood, they committed at the outset."

The Huntingdon company, which markets ranges of cups and containers in paper board and plastic materials, is taking 20 per cent of the RPET output from Closed Loop.

Its customers include major international retail coffee brands, retail supermarkets and foodservice contract service providers in the UK, Europe and Middle East. The firm, part of US business Solo Cup, has around 400 employees.