Why keeping recycled materials in use for longer matters
In 2022, globally, 1.2 million tonnes of paper-based carton packages were collected and sent for recycling1. Today, most carton packages collected for recycling are being shipped to paper mills, which recover the fibre, separating the polyAl2.
The fibre is then reused into new products such as cardboard boxes, tissues and office paper.
Where paper mills use dedicated pulpers to process carton packages, the remaining polyAl can be sent to plastic and aluminium recyclers to be recycled into products such as panels, pallets, crates, furniture, and tiles.
There’s a growing number of polyAl recyclers, and it’s part of our strategy to accelerate the recycling capacity for all materials of carton packages. The more that materials are kept in use, the more that demand for virgin resources can be reduced and the environmental impact associated with their extraction and processing can be minimised.
1.Paper-based carton packages are recyclable where adequate collection, sorting and recycling infrastructures are in place at scale.
2The non-fibre component of carton packages is known as polyAl, which designates the layers of polyolefins and aluminium being used as barrier.