Over the past two years the plant has seen investment into equipment which can shred and pulp carton material, typically used fruit juice containers made by Tetrapak. Cartons are a good source of long fibres for papermaking, but also contain contaminants in the form of aluminium and polyethylene liners.
A number of local authorities have been encouraged by Tetrapak to collect cartons. But, the Fife papermill had struggled to source enough used cartons for its process – although volumes had increased, partly helped by the shipping in of a “substantial tonnage” through Ireland's packaging recycling organisation, Repak.
” In a worst case scenario, the material will be sent to Europe to be reprocessed, possibly to Sweden. “
– Nicola Mann – Tetrapak
Tetrapak has been the main company promoting carton recycling and its recycling officer Nicola Mann said this week that it was hoping to find other mills to take local authority and its own material.
The closure of Smith Anderson has an immediate impact on Tetrapak itself, because the mill also took in large volumes of factory production waste from Tetrapak.
Ms Mann said: “As far as we are concerned this doesn't stop carton recycling. There are other mills that will be able to offer a solution. In a worst case scenario, the material will be sent to Europe to be reprocessed, possibly to Sweden. We would like councils and companies to carry on collecting, we don't want this material landfilled.”
Paper mills in the UK have traditionally taken some Tetrapaks in their mixed paper collections, but there is some concern at putting too many into a mix because of the contamination involved.
Concerned
Local authorities who have collected cartons told letsrecycle.com that they were concerned at the current situation.
One recycling officer said: “We have been given no information as to where our Tetrapaks will go now. The situation has been unsatisfactory in the past because we are not even given any extra money towards the collection costs. Even 5 a tonne to pay for baling wire would be helpful.”
Morag Grant, recycling officer for Angus council in Scotland, which is 50 miles from the mill, said: “We are very disappointed at the news of the closure of the Fife mill and we will be looking for buyers or alternative reprocessing plants to take our Tetrapaks. We would also like to see a 'milkround' collection scheme which would see the material collected from authorities on one vehicle.”
Keith Martin of Ireland's Repak said that the organisation was hoping to find other paper mill outlets to take cartons from Ireland. Repak currently pays 63 Euros per tonne to the collector of cartons once documentary proof is available to show they have been sent for recycling.
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