UK group calls for better efforts to deliver quality fibre

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) Corrugated Sector, a United Kingdom-based group representing the supply chain for paper and board manufacturers and paper recyclers, is urging the waste industry and local authorities in the country to do more to achieve greater collection consistency to help reverse the rise in recycling rejection rates that is being driven by what the organization is calling cross contamination.

To address the problem, CPI has issued a position paper saying it believes that the increasing use of commingled collections has contributed to the increase in household waste in England that had been rejected from materials recycling facilities – 338,000 tonnes in 2014/15 compared with 184,000 tonnes in 2011/12 – according to a recent BBC report following a Freedom of Information request.

CPI notes that while it has had great success in increasing the amount of corrugated fibre for recycling – more than an 80% recycling rate in the country – if a growing percentage of the recyclables being collected is contaminated through councils’ collection process, it can end up being treated as waste and not be recycled.

In its statement, CPI acknowledges there are those in waste management that insist commingling of recyclables can be justified providing there is a sorting mechanism in place. However, CPI considers source separation as the most effective process to maintain material quality.

Andy Barnetson, CPI director of packaging affairs, says the rising reject rates partially reflects a “growing impatience” among paper mills about the quality of the material they are receiving and then having to shoulder the cost burden of contamination.

“The vast majority of the material recovered from the back of retailers’ stores is corrugated, and that’s pretty clean. The core area of concern for us is post domestic where there’s been a lack of clarity and consistency over methodology for household collection, which has led to a decline in quality,” Barnetson says.

He continues, “Increasing energy, water, sorting and waste disposal costs have focused reprocessors on the impact of poor quality recycled corrugated. The corrugated industry favours separation at source, but a clear and consistent approach to collection, such as that being advocated by WRAP, would provide clarity and simplicity for councils and the public.”

He adds, “While the declining quality of secondary fibre for recycling post domestic is impacting on the corrugated industry, there are encouraging signs of initiatives to rationalize collection systems technologies throughout the country, such as the WRAP Consistency Programme, which suggests that the direction of travel may be changing.”

Not only is recycling corrugated beneficial to the environment and to the nation’s carbon footprint, it also has a commercial value and is essential to the corrugated industry. Even though the U.K. corrugated sector is already surpassing government and EU targets, recycling it ensures that fibres, which would otherwise be lost, can be reused on secondary packaging.

From a domestic perspective, awareness of the benefits of recycling is generally on the increase, but around 50% of English authorities employ a commingle system when councils should be encouraging more households to separate corrugated from other recyclables, particularly glass and plastic.

Rising quality issues and flat-lining recycling rates pose big challenges. Even though CPI argues that the advent of commingled collections effectively cross-contaminates everything, the corrugated industry’s resolve to continue to reduce its impact on the planet and further boost recycling is unwavering.