DS Smith award: Demonstrating leadership in circular economy thinking

DS Smith has won a Sustainability Leaders Award for Waste and Resource Management for its Reject Processing Centre (RPC) at the Kemsley Paper Mill.

A Reject Processing Centre was established at the mill to find a better way to deal with the amount of waste that arose from the processing and production of paper and cardboard. The waste generated and subsequently used in the RPC amounted to 12,000 tonnes per annum of ragger, a by-product of the paper pulping process containing baling wire, plastics and fibre, and 29,000 tonnes per annum of light rejects.

In a six-month period 12,400 tonnes were diverted from landfill.

The judges said: “DS Smith’s innovative ragger rope recycling project netted the company more than £500,000 in just six months, with nothing going to landfill. This is a prime example of circular economy thinking generating a clear return on investment in a short space of time.”

The award was presented at the Edie Awards on 19 November at a ceremony in the Great Connaught Rooms in London. DS Smith was up against finalists GENeco, RB, Sainsbury’s, Simply Cups and Travis Perkins & Crest Nicholson in this category.

This is the second award DS Smith has won for its approach to zero waste at Kemsley Mill, winning the CIWM Sustainability and Resource award for the Achieving Zero Waste category.

Graham Appleby, Site Facilities Manager, commented:

"This is a great achievement. This project fits with DS Smith's sustainability strategy and circular economy as well as realises the potential of partnerships between Company and Supplier."

DS Smith Head of Recycling Jim Malone, said:

“This is great news. A zero waste philosophy is central to the work at DS Smith and as a company 100% of collected resources are turned back into something useful once more.

"The Reject Processing Centre demonstrates that we are delivering on our aims and closing the loop on as many materials as possible. It’s good to see that industry representatives realise this too.”

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