When the facility reaches full capacity in July, it will be the first time in seven years that the United Kingdom has had a place to recycle its beverage cartons. The new facility can recycle 25,000 tons of cartons, nearly half of the approximately 60,000 tons of paper-based cartons used in the UK each year. In additional to municipal recycling, Heathrow Airport, which generates around 110,000 tonnes of waste a year, 2.5% of which is coffee cups, is looking to recycle at the beverage recycling plant as well.

Sonoco Alcore will use the paperboard layers from the recycled cartons to produce coreboard, used to make tubes and cores for consumer and industrial applications, such as cling film, textiles and paper.