5 Dec. 2024: DS Smith has warned that wet weather could lead to paper and cardboard recycling streams seeing a 40% increase in plastic contamination. The packaging company explained that rain turns cardboard into a “wet magnet” for plastics and other contaminants. The problem could see over 5,000 tonnes of plastic end up in the paper and card recycling system throughout winter.

The UK has experienced record-breaking rainfall this year so far, with September being the wettest calendar month since records began nearly two hundred years ago.

Jonathan Scott, technical operations director at DS Smith’s Kemsley Paper Mill, further explained: “When materials like paper and cardboard get wet, they ‘stick’ to other items in the recycling mix, like plastics and glass, making it harder to separate materials.

“At the largest paper mill for recycled papers in the UK, we process over a fifth of the paper and cardboard recycled in the UK each year, turning it into new packaging papers that can be used to make boxes and paper bags.

“The mill is a key part of the UK’s circular economy, but it can be affected by the changing seasons. In the worst cases, when contamination is really high, we have to reject paper and card that could have been recycled.”

DS Smith advised that the public keep a lid on their recycling if this is an option or even store it inside when it rains. It also recommended making sure that all other recycling fully dries after washing before being added into mixed recycling bins.

Scott concluded: “We know people want to do the right thing. However, the UK system doesn’t always make things easy for households. We can solve a lot of these contamination issues by collecting paper and card separately from other materials, maximising how much can be recycled.”

Last week (29 November 2024), Defra announced that its new Simpler Recycling legislation will allow for a twin stream approach for paper and cardboard, and other mixed dry recycling.

Paul Sanderson, chief executive of The Recycling Association, reacted to the news: “This policy update on Simpler Recycling seems like a good compromise to have paper and cardboard separately as default but allowing flexibility where not possible to do that.

“This should help to raise the quality of recyclable materials collected from households and businesses.”

https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/ds-smith-warns-of-40-increase-in-contamination/by Savannah Coombe