Reigate and Banstead extends DS Smith recycling partnership

Packaging company DS Smith has announced the extension of its 20-year recycling partnership with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council (RBBC) for around 7,000 tonnes of paper and card per year.

Material collected by DS Smith will be recycled at the company’s paper mill in Kemsley, Kent – which currently recycles over 900,000 tonnes of paper and card per year.

RBBC has been partnering with DS Smith since 2001, and has seen recycling rates more than double – from 21 per cent to 54.3 per cent – during this time.

RBBC is among the top 15 per cent of England’s best-performing local authorities, in terms of recycling rates.

Ian Muir, Recycling Officer at RBBC, said: “We’re delighted to continue our long and successful partnership with DS Smith.

“Paper and cardboard recycling is the cornerstone of our ambitious recycling target and reprocessing our waste at a local paper mill reduces its environmental impact, which is important for many residents, as well as the Council.”

Sian Farrell, Senior Business and Contract Manager, DS Smith’s Recycling Division, added: “We are proud of the long-term partnerships we have with many of our customers, and this is a particularly great example.

“In our 20 years of working with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council they have provided us with good quality material for our paper making process and we have been able to supply them with fully auditable and sustainable recycling facilities that have helped to grow their recycling rates.”

Recycling paper and cardboard from RBBC forms part of DS Smith’s circular business model that provides packaging from recycled papers for a wide range of sectors including retail, e-commerce and manufacturing.