What happens to your bales of recycled material?

We will recommend to you a Recycler who will collect your bales. Small cardboard bales (less than mill size), will be re-baled into 'mill size' bales. A mill size bale weighs at least 350-400kg and is bound by steel, these are the bales that the recycling mills work with. These mill size bales command a higher price than loose or small baled paper due to the fact that they are ready for processing at the mill. 

There are recycling mills all over the world and the cardboard baled in the UK will normally be sent to the recycling mills paying the highest value. This means the cardboard could stay in the UK, or sent to Europe, India or as far as China to be recycled. UK Paper Mill prices are typically slightly lower than other countries – but payment terms are normally quicker and more reliable. Currently 80% of the UK cardboard is recycled.

Plastic bales can be accepted directly by re-processors, and whilst transportation costs are minimised with ‘mill size bales’ – it is not critical.  Even small bales can be processed with most plastics now recyclable and baling will help increase the amounts of plastic being recycled. Across the globe as little as 10% of plastics are recycled but this figure is improving. This is the same for compacted plastic.

When the bale arrives at its processing destination, they begin the recycling process which means your plastic and cardboard can be turned back into packaging again.