C/PAP 85
The pack is mostly paper or board, combined with plastic, aluminium and tinplate that cannot be separated by hand. It is the four-material composite of Decision 97/129/EC, numbered 85, and it reads C/PAP because paper is the main material.
- Material
- Paper and board/plastic/aluminium/tinplate
- Code
- C/PAP 85
- Family
- Composites
- Defined by
- Commission Decision 97/129/EC
Which bin, usually
Usually it depends on where you live. NLWA says Pringles tubes cannot go in the recycling bin at home in north London, because it has no way to separate the materials, and points to Pringles’ drop-off points run with TerraCycle. HSY, in the Helsinki region, sorts C/PAP composites, 85 included, into carton collection.
Source: North London Waste Authority: Pringles tube, checked 2026-10-16; HSY (Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority): Recycling markings, checked 2026-10-16.
Whether this goes in your recycling depends on your local collection; check your council or municipality's sorting guide.
The material
Paper and fibreboard/plastic/aluminium/tinplate: a paper or board body with plastic, aluminium and tinplate (tin-coated steel) parts that cannot be separated by hand.
Where you see it
HSY, the waste authority for Helsinki and its neighbouring cities, gives Pringles cans as its example of an 85. North London’s waste authority (NLWA) lists what that tube is made of: a metal base, a foil-lined cardboard tube, a plastic cap and a metal tear-off lid — all four materials of the code.
Source: HSY (Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority): Recycling markings, checked 2026-10-16; North London Waste Authority: Pringles tube, checked 2026-10-16.
What it does not mean
C/PAP 85 is not a drinks carton (C/PAP 84) and not plain board (PAP 21): the metal ends make it a different pack, so a collection that takes cartons has not necessarily agreed to take it.
A composite code says the layers cannot be pulled apart by hand. It does not say that anyone near you separates them, and it does not mean the pack belongs with the material named after C/: C/PAP is not plain paper.
Annex VII also numbers 80 (Paper and fibreboard/miscellaneous metals), 83 (Paper and fibreboard/tinplate), 91 (Plastic/tinplate), 92 (Plastic/miscellaneous metals), 95 (Glass/plastic), 96 (Glass/aluminium), 97 (Glass/tinplate), 98 (Glass/miscellaneous metals).
Other ways it is printed
- C/PAP under an 85 in a triangle of arrows
- C/PAP 85, C/PAP85, CPAP 85 or 85 C/PAP in plain text
What this page cannot tell you
This page cannot tell you what your own collection does with the tube: NLWA’s answer is for north London and HSY’s for the Helsinki region, and councils elsewhere decide for themselves; drop-off schemes open and close. It cannot tell you that every can-shaped crisp or snack tube is an 85 — only the code on the pack says so — and it does not know how long any maker’s take-back scheme will run.
Other composites codes
Sources
- Commission Decision 97/129/EC of 28 January 1997 establishing the identification system for packaging materials (OJ L 50, 20.2.1997), as adopted — UK National Archives copy (Annex VII: Paper and fibreboard/plastic/aluminium/tinplate, 85; Article 2 definition of composite) — checked 2026-09-23
- Commission Decision 97/129/EC of 28 January 1997 establishing the identification system for packaging materials — EUR-Lex, the EU’s official text (Annex VII: Paper and fibreboard/plastic/aluminium/tinplate, 85) — checked 2026-10-16
- HSY (Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority): Recycling markings (paper-based composites) — checked 2026-10-16. It says: “These packages are sorted into carton collection. … 85 Paper/carton/cardboard + plastic + aluminium + tinplate: e.g. Pringles cans”
- North London Waste Authority: Pringles tube (Guidance) — checked 2026-10-16. It says: “Pringles tubes cannot go in your recycling bin at home. This is because they are made up of lots of different materials: a metal base, foil-lined cardboard tube, plastic cap and metal tear-off lid.”
Written in our own words from these public texts and checked on the date shown. ASTM D7611 and ISO 14021 are sold by their publishers; only their public catalogue text is used here.