The company will then have the capacity to recycle up to 15,000 tonnes of cartons a year, using the fibres for production of paper products such as fast food carrier bags.
The work at the mill near Leslie, Fife, later this month, will involve the replacing of existing trommels with small holes for trommels with larger holes to improve the removal of plastic and aluminium waste from the cartons.
The Fettykil mill is the centre of a nationwide project announced in January 2003 to capture used cartons from the waste stream. However, the project has got off to an uncertain start. While the plant is taking in used cartons from Southern Ireland and production waste from the UK, material from the household waste stream is still not being collected on any noticeable scale.
Waste management firms spoken to by letsrecycle.com have said that the costs of separating the cartons from the waste stream and despatching them to Scotland are an obstacle. One firm in southern England said: “We would like to be one of the regional hubs that they would like to set up. But, the funding to help us do this is not being provided.”
Smith Anderson is reluctant to give details of the price it would pay for a tonne of cartons. However, it is thought that it would pay less than the current price of mixed paper, which is about 30 ex works, even though the cartons would also give Smith Anderson PRN income.
Time
Mark Burstall, recycling director for Smith Anderson, emphasised that the project at the mill was long term and that “it will take time to educate the public that cartons can now be recycled.”
He explained that the project to recycle the cartons, which has the support of trade body the Liquid Fibre Cartons Manufacturers Association, was proving “extremely successful” although the post-consumer side was “very, very slow”.
Mr Burstall said that many local authorities were keen to add cartons to their doorstep collections and that banks would be installed for cartons. He also advocated the involvement of schoolchildren who could be able to bring the drink cartons to school. Promotional schemes are to be run by the trade association to encourage this.
But, the Smith Anderson recycling director pointed out that in the short-term the development of carton recycling from the household waste stream would not be easy until landfill prices are higher. “Landfill here is still very cheap but we mustn’t be shortsighted. This may struggle in its infancy, but otherwise in 2010 we might argue why didn’t we do this years ago?” he said.
Further information about carton recycling is available from the LFCMA via its website drinkscartons.com or by telephone on: 020 8977 6116.
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