It is estimated that 8% of cartons were processed domestically prior to the closure of the mill.
This comes as 322 out of 361 UK local authorities (89.2%) are now collecting cartons for onward reprocessing. This is up from 66% at the start of 2025.
Under Simpler Recycling regulations, all English councils were mandated to collect cartons from the kerbside from 31 March 2026.
The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment Limited (ACE UK), which co-funded the line, said the closure can be attributed to “a change in business operations” at Sonoco.
A spokesperson told letsrecycle.com: “To maintain the recycling of cartons, ACE UK acted immediately to secure the use of state-of-the-art dedicated reprocessing facilities in Western Europe.
“Cartons are currently being exported for reprocessing at paper mills in Germany, France and Spain and together these facilities have the capacity to handle all anticipated UK volumes.
“During this interim period, ACE UK will work with partners to manage export requirements in line with all UK and international waste shipment regulations.”
The alliance added that it is in discussion with other UK paper mills about plans to develop new carton pulping lines.
Cartons include items such as juice boxes, plant-based milk cartons and soup cartons and are ranked as either amber or red under the Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM).
They are complex to recycle as they are made up of composite materials, namely cardboard, plastic and sometimes aluminium, which need to be separated from each other during the recycling process.
ACE UK said that the number of councils now collecting cartons demonstrates “the early success” of Simpler Recycling which looks to standardise recycling collections across England.
The alliance stressed that, despite the lack of domestic processing capacity, cartons should still be collected in compliance with the regulations.
The spokesperson added: “Importantly, for councils, retailers, and consumers – cartons can continue to be placed in household recycling bins as normal.
“Local Authorities will continue to benefit from a simple collection process, and suppliers will have reprocessing continuity.
“Our long-term commitment is unchanged: we want every carton sorted for recycling in the UK to be reprocessed domestically, and we will communicate updates as soon as new arrangements are in place.”
The Sonoco Stainland carton mill was co-funded by ACE UK, which was set up by carton producers to meet the challenge of recycling the packaging they produce.
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