RRW 2007 Day 4 - Paper & Cardboard

In 2006 Repak members funded the recovery and recycling of 276,507 tonnes of cardboard and paper, which is up 12% over the same period in 2005, reflecting 83% of all paper and board packaging forecast to be on the market and accounting for 46% of the total weight of materials funded by the Repak Payment Scheme for Recycling.

These results show that Irish recyclers are winning the battle in the recycling of paper and cardboard, however there is still much to do if Ireland are to be confident of hitting their 2011 recycling target of 60%.

Repak members are also playing their part in reducing the quantities of paper and cardboard that they are placing on the Irish market. Below are some best example case studies of how Repak and its members are driving packaging prevention and minisation.

1. Diageo Baileys

Diageo Baileys prevents almost 53 tonnes of cardboard (over 900 trees) and 378 tonnes of glass (1.2 million glass bottles) every year thanks to the innovative industrial design of its new bottle introduced in 2004.

2. eircom

With broadband sales increasing significantly, eircom investigated ways to reduce the packaging of its broadband product without reducing its effectiveness but all to meet the increasing demands for the product. It prevent a staggering 15 tonnes of cardboard reaching the market (over 250 trees) by reducing the amount of cardboard required by 15%. It used one material instead of two and also reduced the amount of ink used.

3. Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak developed a new stronger but lighter inner plastic coating for its beverage cartons resulting in the weight of all its product reducing by 3% and also saving 4% on the Gross Energy Requirement of producing it.

4. Britvic Ireland (formerly C&C )

a) By redesigning the way it transports 9 x 2 Litre packs of 7Up, Britvic removed cardboard required by 100% and the amount of plastic shrink wrap required by almost 31%. This means, every year, 290 tonnes (or almost 5,000 trees) of cardboard is prevented from reaching the market and 68 tonnes of shrink wrap.
b) By changing the Ritz PVC sleeve to a PET sleeve, C&C introduced a more recyclable product (PET) and reduced the polymer usage by 6.4%.

5. Musgrave Ireland

In their chilled food market, it was discovered that by substituting their cardboard sleeves with labels, they would save 17g of packaging per unit. Their total ready meal sales alone amount to 1,000,000 units, translating into a wasted saving of 15 tonnes per annum and €57,500 per annum.