Local authorities are missing out on potential revenue and denying UK manufacturing a valuable resource if they collected cardboard with green waste, according to Smurfit Kappa Recycling and the REA Organics Recycling Group.
As a result, both organisations are calling for councils to collect cardboard separately from green waste.
Smurfit Kappa Recycling business development manager for local authorities Ian Halson said: “Gate fees for garden waste are today at around £25 per tonne and upwards, so any tonnage of cardboard waste that is diverted from composting offers considerable scope for savings. What’s more, many reprocessors will pay councils for the cardboard, which is a valuable recyclable resource. This is a win-win situation, generating additional revenue for local authorities while helping the UK recovered paper industry to become self-sufficient.”
REA Organics Recycling Group technical director Jeremy Jacobs said: “The inclusion of cardboard and paper within green waste collections is not a practice which the Organics Recycling Group condones. There is an inevitable inclusion of non-compostable materials within this commingled feedstock, such as plastic, cellophane, staples and tape to name a few. In addition, much of the cardboard will be laminated or coated which reduces its ability to degrade within a typical 8-10 week aerobic composting process.”
