Hi.
My gut feeling would be that the potential for recycling at movie theaters would be limited. The popcorn containers and drink cups are wax coated paper and are contaminated with food. You'd have to check, but I would doubt that anyone would recycle these (maybe you can ask the American Forest and Paper Association). Alot of the candy comes in paperboard boxes. Much of this may also be contaminated, and if paper processors don't want the contaminated boxes, you'd have to find a way to separate them. This would likely not be practical. Also, some areas in the US recycle paperboard, but it is not universal. If I recall, paperboard is rather low quality stuff and is at the bottom end of the paper food chain... i.e., it has a high recycled content, but the quality of the fiber in the paperboard is sufficently low that its use in making paper again is rather limited.
Any kind of plastic wraps/films that might be used to package candy could potentially be recycled, but again, the problem of separating it, as well as storing it, would be an issue. These problems have resulted in very few reccling operations involving these materials.... it is just not practical.
I hope this helps...
Mr Friedman, Any corrections or additions?
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