LAWR

CORRUGATED RECYCLING CPI represents 67 member companies from an industry with an aggregate annual turnover of £5 billion. " Landfilling of corrugated must be viewed as a last resort; such a versatile, easily recycled product should be recovered wherever possible " corrugated packaging will not only boost the recycling rate, but help improve the quantity and quality of reusable material for the industry. It really is just a matter of securing the stream so that local authorities collecting that waste see its value. Cost might be a factor deterring local authorities from focusing on free commercial recycling collections of cardboard, as a business may baulk at having to pay extra for taking away segregated corrugated in addition to its residual waste. It's a tricky decision for councils in times of austerity, but making cardboard collections would intensify a reduction in general residual waste collection and councils could recoup the costs from the value of the materials. CPI would also like to see the burning of cardboard in energy-from- waste incinerators discouraged. In the majority of studies carried out by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), recycling was the preferred option to both incineration and landfill, except in a minority of situations, for reducing the carbon footprint. Residual treatment such as incineration requires local authorities to agree long-term contracts. There is a risk in the future that if a council has agreed a 25-year commitment to using an incinerator based on assumptions made before the start of the contract, there could be over capacity, but they will still have to supply adequate 'residual' waste feedstock to keep the fires burning. This could potentially result in a lack of incentive to improve recycling. Corrugated's recycling rate in the UK is well above the EU target of 70% by 2015. However, CPI is working with individual companies and organisations like WRAP to try to highlight where products can be improved in order to avoid other disposal routes so that local authorities can consider corrugated as a vital resource that they can derive value from. There are challenges ahead as recycling is levelling off and the amount of household waste, including a significant proportion of recyclable materials, sent to power-generating incinerators is increasing, but the corrugated packaging industry's resolve to continue to reduce its impact on the planet is unwavering. Andy Barnetson is director of packaging affairs for the Confederation of Paper Industries. January 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 21

• Cover