Eco-Products has rolled out a new lineup of beverage cups spanning compostable, recyclable and reusable materials, giving foodservice operators a broader menu of options for cutting packaging waste. The Boulder, Colorado-based company announced the expansion on June 10, 2026, covering redesigned paper hot cups, a new line of recycled aluminum cold cups and an expanded reusable drinkware system built for campuses, hospitals and other closed-loop settings.
The announcement reflects a strategy increasingly common among packaging manufacturers: rather than betting on a single waste-diversion pathway, Eco-Products is positioning compostability, recyclability and reuse as complementary tools that operators can mix depending on their facilities, local infrastructure and customer base.
A Redesign for the Hot Cup Line
At the center of the launch is a refreshed version of Eco-Products’ World Art hot cup and soup cup line, one of the earliest compostable hot cup options to reach the US market. Alongside the visual redesign, the company has shifted the entire hot cup and soup cup range to FSC-certified paperboard, a move tied to the Forest Stewardship Council’s standards for responsible forest management.
The FSC-Certified Mix products combine materials from FSC-certified forests, recycled content and controlled wood sources. Notably, Eco-Products said customers can add the FSC logo to custom printed cups at no additional cost, removing a common barrier that has kept some smaller foodservice brands from pursuing third-party forestry certification on private-label packaging.
Aluminum Enters the Cold Cup Category
The lineup’s most structurally new addition is BlueStripe, a family of aluminum cold cups available in 12-, 16-, 20- and 24-ounce sizes. The cups are made with 90 percent recycled aluminum, drawn from a combination of post-industrial and post-consumer sources, and are recyclable through the same streams as aluminum cans.
Aluminum’s appeal in packaging circularity comes down to its recycling economics: the metal can be reprocessed repeatedly without degrading in quality, and producing aluminum from recycled material requires substantially less energy than refining virgin ore. That combination has long made aluminum one of the most sought-after materials for recyclers, and beverage cup formats represent a relatively new application of that value proposition outside of cans and foil.
For operators in regions where curbside or back-of-house recycling infrastructure for aluminum is already well established, a cold cup that slots into existing can-recycling streams could offer a more straightforward diversion path than cups requiring composting facilities, which remain unevenly available across the country.
Reuse Gets a Bigger Footprint
The third pillar of the launch is an expansion of Veda, Eco-Products’ reusable drinkware platform, which the company first introduced in October 2024 as a line of reusable food containers. The system has now grown to include reusable cups and lids aimed at closed-system foodservice environments such as colleges and universities, corporate campuses, military installations and hospitals, where the same population of users cycles through a facility repeatedly and containers can realistically be tracked and returned.
The expanded cup range comes in three tiers, standard, premium and ultra, across multiple sizes. Standard cups are built for cold beverages only, while the premium and ultra tiers are designed to handle both hot and cold drinks. Underpinning the system is collection and tracking technology developed by OZZI, a reuse infrastructure company that Eco-Products’ parent, Novolex, invested in during 2024. Under the model, users obtain a reusable cup or container through a deposit or dining-services program, return it after use, and the item is scanned and washed before re-entering circulation.
This reuse-tracking approach addresses one of the persistent obstacles to reusable foodservice programs: without a system for collection, sanitation and accountability, reusable items tend to leak out of closed environments and end up discarded rather than returned. By pairing the cups with OZZI’s existing tracking infrastructure, Eco-Products is betting that institutions already comfortable with deposit-return logistics, such as universities running dining halls, will be more willing to adopt reusable cups at scale.
Industry Context
The launch arrives as foodservice packaging companies face growing pressure from both regulation and customer demand to demonstrate measurable progress on waste diversion, while also navigating the reality that recycling and composting infrastructure varies enormously by city and region. Industry observers have noted that no single material category, compostable fiber, recycled aluminum or reusable systems, currently has the infrastructure to serve as a universal solution, which has pushed packaging suppliers toward portfolio strategies rather than single-material bets.
Eco-Products, a certified B Corp under the Novolex umbrella, has built its broader business around exactly this kind of portfolio approach, supplying renewable, recycled and reusable foodservice packaging while also working directly with customers on composting and recycling program design.
“There isn’t a single solution that works everywhere when it comes to keeping foodservice packaging out of landfills,” said Wendell Simonson, General Manager of Eco-Products. “In many operations, commercially compostable items like plates and bowls work alongside recyclable beverage cans and cups, while closed-system environments like campuses and hospitals are exploring reuse. Our goal is to give customers choice across all three approaches so they can build successful diversion programs that work for their unique circumstances.”
On the reuse expansion specifically, Simonson added: “Every operation has its own waste stream, infrastructure and service model. Recovery infrastructure for foodservice packaging is dynamic and we plan to do everything we can to evolve with it.”
What Comes Next
For foodservice operators evaluating their packaging strategy, the expanded lineup offers a chance to diversify diversion programs across formats rather than relying on a single material stream. How quickly aluminum cold cups and Veda’s reusable system gain traction outside their initial closed-system markets will likely depend on how local recycling and reuse infrastructure continues to develop, an area Eco-Products has signaled it intends to keep adapting alongside.
