Green Solutions Packaging Solutions
DS Smith has announced a renewed partnership to manage around 7000 tonnes of paper and card for recycling from Reigate & Banstead Borough Council (RBBC). Underlying the council’s commitment to ensure UK recycling, material collected from the borough will be recycled at DS Smith paper mill in Kemsley, Kent. Recycling over 900,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard a year, the mill is the largest of its kind in the UK.
DS Smith and RBBC have been partnering since 2001, during which time the council has more than doubled its recycling rates from 21% to 54.3% – moving into the top 15% of England’s best performing local authorities.
Commenting on the renewed partnership Ian Muir, recycling officer at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, said: ‘We are delighted to continue our long and successful partnership with DS Smith. Paper and cardboard recycling is the corner stone of our ambitious recycling target and reprocessing our waste at a local paper mill reduces its environmental impact, which is important for many residents, as well as the council.’
A recent YouGov poll commissioned by DS Smith showed that more than a third of UK adults (37%) said they feared the materials they recycle will end up in landfill or incineration sites. Recycling locally at Kemsley reassures householders that paper and cardboard is recycled and has not gone overseas. What is more the short distance the material travels for processing is reducing road miles, helping RBBC to cut emissions and meet its carbon neutral target.
Sian Farrell, senior business and contract manager, DS Smith’s Recycling Division, noted: ‘We are proud of the long term partnerships we have with many of our customers, and this is a particularly great example. In our 20 years of working with Reigate & Banstead Borough Council it has provided us with good quality material for our papermaking process and we have been able to supply the council with fully auditable and sustainable recycling facilities that have helped to grow its recycling rates.’
Recycled paper and cardboard from the borough form part of DS Smith’s circular business model that provides packaging from recycled papers for a wide range of sectors including retail, e-commerce and manufacturing.
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