Cash-strapped council chiefs are being urged to follow the example of two Surrey boroughs which expect to generate £2m over the next two years from recycling waste paper, including direct mail.
The deal, signed last month by Guildford and Reigate & Banstead borough councils, involves mixed paper collected by the two councils being sent, after sorting, to be reprocessed at UPM’s Shotton Mill in North Wales.
Between the two councils, UPM expects to receive around 16,000 tonnes of paper a year. Previously, Guildford sold its paper on the ‘spot’ market through SITA and Reigate & Banstead sold its material under what it termed an “informal agreement” with DS Smith Recycling.
The move has been welcomed by the DMA, and the industry body claims the deal reinforces its campaign to increase the volume of used and unwanted direct mail being sent for recycling.
In 2004, the DMA signed a voluntary producer agreement with Defra, committing the industry to a target of 70% of all waste direct mail going to recycling by 2013. It claims to have “smashed” the target four years ahead of schedule in 2009, reaching an audited level of 76%.
Schemes such as the environmental standard PAS 2020 have been credited with helping the industry to hit its targets. Currently, waste direct mail comprises 10-15% of the average household’s recyclable waste paper.
DMA head of postal and environmental affairs Alex Walsh said: “The myths surrounding the environmental and financial costs of advertising mail have been dispelled by the commercially savvy agreements made by these councils. There is no reason for councils to dispose of used and unwanted advertising mail in costly landfill, and as Guildford and Reigate & Banstead councils have proven, there is money to be made from paper recycling.”
