While not every company is equipped or positioned to follow its products through their entire lifecycle, there are a few ways companies can think about participating at individual or multiple points in the circular cycle.
Recycling is complicated. Whether or not a product sees new life as a recycled
version of itself is dependent upon numerous factors at each point in a
multi-step process, frequently requiring cooperation from multiple stakeholders.
Although it’s easy to feel like only a piece of the puzzle, there are many ways
in which companies can help increase the odds that their products are
successfully recycled.
Circularity has been a pillar of WestRock’s
business for decades. As a paper and packaging solutions company, we understand
that our role doesn’t have to end with delivering products to customers. Since
the 1980s, we have operated recycling facilities across the US, recovering
the very material we create. We own and operate 18 recycling facilities that are
essential to our ability to manage more than 7.5 million tons of recyclables
annually. The majority of this recycled material is used in our recycle paper
mills, making us one of the largest integrated recyclers in the US. This caliber
of infrastructure forms a footprint to both collect and consume recycled fiber,
helping our customers give the recycled fiber used in our packaging products
two, three ... often more than eight lives!
While not every company is equipped or positioned to follow their product
through its entire lifecycle, there are strategies that companies can apply to
directly contribute to a circular economy at individual steps along the cycle.
Consider the makeup of your packaging.
Product
packaging is a natural place for companies to reduce waste because of the many
sustainable options available on the market. Because recycling guidelines vary
between cities, one way to increase the sustainability of your packaging is to
consider fiber-based
packaging
— which has a significantly higher recycling rate than plastic. Of the
material processed in WestRock’s recycling plants, 90 percent is fiber that is
returned to our paper mills — ensuring it is made into ‘new’ recycled fiber
packaging to continue its useful life.
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While it’s encouraging that the world is becoming more aware of the importance
of using recycled materials, there is still a gap in education about why virgin
fiber is a requirement for recycled fiber. Every time fiber is recycled, the
individual strands of fiber get broken down further, which weakens the quality
and strength of the material. Virgin fiber can typically be recycled 5-7
times. Without the infusion of stronger virgin fiber into the paper
manufacturing process, research has shown that the recycled paper cycle would
end in fewer than 14 months.
Virgin fiber is produced from trees; so, how do we ensure our entire
operations cycle is circular? We take a hands-on approach with forests in
regions where we source our virgin fiber to ensure they remain sustainable for
generations to come. Crucial to forest sustainability are land-management
plans designed to keep landscapes forest positive, meaning that more trees are
planted than harvested in a procurement basin. Healthy and sustainably managed
forests
directly contribute to wildlife diversity, enhanced water quality and carbon
sequestration.
Once it gets to your consumer, help them recycle it properly.
There is still room for improvement when it comes to consumer education
about
recycling.
Companies who ship directly to consumers can contribute to recycling education
through printed instructions on the package itself, or QR codes that scan to
explanatory pages. Foodservice distribution company Performance Food
Group, for example, uses WestRock’s
“Scan.Learn.Recycle.” QR code on its
packaging to make it easy for consumers
to find and learn more about their local recycling program.
Proper recycling habits are crucial for the future of recycling so that sorting
is more efficient and a higher percentage of recycled products make it to the
correct destination. This is an innovation focus area for WestRock. Through
2022, we’ve invested more than $7 million into recycling technology primarily
intended to improve capture rates — ultimately improving the quality of recycled
material headed to our paper mills and reducing the volume of material that goes
to landfills.
Robotics and optical sorting are two areas we have invested in that have helped
us better identify non-paper-based commodities and separate them out of the
fiber stream. So far, we’ve seen a 5-7 percent improvement in fiber quality as a
result.
A critical step to increasing recycling rates is improved consumer education
about proper recycling practices. This step goes a long way in complementing our
continued investments in recycling technologies.
Help paper-based materials make it back into the stream.
Households aside, another important collection point is at commercial
endpoints. Companies that are final destinations for paper-based materials
should think about how to best facilitate recycling pick-ups.
For example, in 2020, General Motors expressed a desire to create a
closed-loop system between its processing centers and its approved packaging
supplier. As a result, WestRock began to work with GM as both a supplier and a
recycling partner — providing the auto company with fiber-based products
consistent in color and size, and collecting nearly 17,000 tons of GM cardboard
per year. This material then heads back to WestRock’s paper mills for a new
life, helping General Motors work toward its goal of “zero waste by 2030.”
Whenever possible, we encourage this type of collaboration, so we can help our
customers achieve their sustainability goals.
Partnering together for future generations.
Our ability to directly influence a circular economy at every step is one of
the reasons I love my work here at WestRock. We’re passing on sustainable
products for generations to come, which makes us an adaptable solutions provider
in all areas for our customers.
But I also know not every company is positioned this way. My hope is that
corporations begin to think about how and where they can make an impact, perhaps
at one of the above-mentioned steps, so that we can work together as an industry
to achieve a circular economy.
Published Apr 7, 2022 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST
SVP, Forest Resources and Recycled Fiber
WestRock
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