Paper and packaging producer DS Smith has appointed Dutchman Rogier Gerritsen as managing director of its recycling division. He will be responsible for the group’s recycling operations across Europe, annually processing around six million tonnes of paper for recycling at the company’s own and partner mills. ‘I am excited about [...]
In six months China will close its doors to recovered fibre, challenging recyclers and traders around the globe to find new markets for their materials. ‘We have to develop sustainable markets for our products; we cannot do so without exporting our surplus recovered fibre,’ Ranjit Baxi of J&H Sales International [...]
The UK’s Recycling Association is calling on its government to support investment in UK paper and cardboard recycling infrastructure on the back of recent announcements from China and Indonesia. China wants to ban the import of all recovered fibre grades by the end of this year, consolidating the ban on [...]
‘A major win for manufacturers, recyclers and those purchasing goods with recycled content,’ says the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in response to the Indonesian government’s plan to introduce a 2% contamination limit for recovered paper imports. ‘This policy allows for Indonesia’s vibrant paper manufacturing sector, and others that [...]
US firm Looptworks is transforming textile production waste into reusable facemasks. The business based in Portland, Oregon re-purposes and upcycles abandoned, pre-consumer and post-consumer materials into ‘limited edition products’. Using off cuts, the masks feature two layers of cotton and one of polyester, which makes them suitable for everyday use [...]
Charities in the UK are concerned about an avalanche of unwanted clothing and other items when their High Street shops re-open in June as householders seek to get rid of items that have been stored for months. Charity shops are major recipients for second-hand clothing but they have been closed [...]
International markets for used clothing are closed because of the direct ban on imports, lockdown measures or through other extraneous reasons, according to the UK’s Textile Recycling Association (TRA). Director Alan Wheeler also reports that because of the Covid-19 pandemic the value of goods collected through textile banks in the [...]
The Covid-19 crisis has presented the secondary paper markets with a bonus of higher demand and prices but also a supply challenge, according to BIR. The global recycling organisation’s latest quarterly World Mirror sets out how a ‘highly unpredictable and scarcely believable’ pandemic impacted the entire world, starting in China [...]
Global Fiber Technologies is doing what it can to ensure healthcare professionals have all the personal protective equipment they need. Recycling various types of used textiles into medical face masks is an integral part of this project. ‘Through our normal course of business of rejuvenating fibre from uniforms and other [...]
Several countries worldwide have stopped importing second-hand clothing due to the fear that they may be contaminated with the coronavirus. The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) and EuRIC argue that this is ‘unlikely’ to be the case. ‘While we entirely understand that governments want to protect their workers such as [...]
