The Circular Economy: Better collection leads to better recycling

DS Smith Packaging Division CEO Stefano Rossi led the call for recycling at a recent discussion on the Circular Economy package in Brussels.

The event, hosted by Euractiv and supported by The European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO), also featured speakers from the Edward Vernon, Environment Unit Coordinator for Malta, which currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, MEP Davor Škrlec, Kestutis Sadauskas director for the Circular Economy and Green Growth at the European Commission and Anke Schulmeister of WWF.

We believe we are circular by nature because we have a natural material and we recycle it

— Stefano Rossi, DS Smith Packaging CEO

 “Paper and board packaging is a champion in recycling with 84.7% recycling rate and we can do more but we need help. We need help from the institutions with collection and from every single person in Europe to get every fibre back so we can recycle it!”

All of the panellists were in favour if ambitious and realistic recycling targets.

Anke Schulmeister of WWF also pointed out that while recycling was important it just as important to ensure that the virgin fibre being used is sustainably sourced and verified using certification schemes like Chain of Custody. "We need to protect that planet because this is the base of our economy," she added.

MEP Škrlec described his home country Croatia as the ‘landfill champion of Europe’ due to low recycling rates and echoed Rossi’s call for better collection and said, “member states can do much more in separate collection and sorting,” in order to overcome the problem of the last mile.

Stefano Rossi was speaking on behalf of FEFCO, a non-profit organisation representing the interests of the industry across Europe.

“We as the European Corrugated industry demand clearly a focus shift from recycling to collection. We are convinced it would be much more beneficial to the environment. In some countries, the separate collection obligation is not yet fully implemented.

Better collection leads to more material for recycling! The paper & board industry has the commitment and the capacity in Europe to recycle up to 100% of what will be collected,” he concluded.