Waste management firm phs Wastekit have urged wholesalers to stop letting other businesses profit from their waste, revealing that that operations can command up to £500 per tonne of plastic and £50 per tonne of waste cardboard.
Plastic and cardboard have become valuable commodities in recent years with the most recent figures from Lets Recycle showing these figures from October 2023.
Jason Smith is the managing director of phs Wastekit, and works with businesses to provide sustainable waste management solutions like baling machines. He says although there is money to be made in selling waste plastics and cardboard directly to recycling companies, many businesses are still paying someone else to take their waste away and letting them profit from it instead.
“In a time when business costs are soaring and people are looking for ways to make savings, I find it amazing that so many companies still do this,” said Smith. “Segregating your waste and maintaining control of your waste stream process should be a priority for all businesses from a CSR and sustainability perspective too. Without it, you don’t ever truly know where your waste is ending up.
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“There are so many missed opportunities and I think it’s down to misconceptions. Businesses see it as extra work – but selling your recyclable waste is a simple process. It is about segregating your waste and getting the right equipment.
“A baling machine is simply operated with just the press of a button so there is minimal extra work. It bundles all of your waste cardboard and plastics into neat bales for you, which can then be sold directly to recycling companies or other businesses who use it for new products. It removes the need for costly waste disposal and puts money straight back into the business.
“It also means that you know exactly where your waste is going, so you can do the right thing by diverting waste from landfill, avoid exporting and recycling here in the UK.”
Chase Plastics in Suffolk is one of the UK’s longest established manufacturers of recycled plastic pellets in the UK. It buys clean scrap polythene film from businesses which it processes in the UK to make high performance recycled polythene pellets and compounds.
Johnstone Smith, Managing Director at Chase Plastics, said: “We have EUCertPlast accreditation, which means we offer the highest standards of traceability, quality and process control in plastic recycling.
