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 Recycling Is Future For A Strapping Great Waste Stream
Monday 30th June 2008
It's a staple in most printers' waste skips - and in the past, millions of miles of it have ended up in landfill sites. Now print waste management specialists J&G Environmental are finding creative new uses for the humble but ubiquitous polypropylene strapping tape.
Widely used to secure products ranging from light cardboard packs to heavy pallet loads during transit, the poly strapping is usually bought in 100 metre reels. Once its job is done, it's traditionally been seen as an ultimate disposal item.
Huge volumes of it have been dumped over the years - but it's not biodegradable and is a by-product which J&G believes should be taken more seriously as a source of reusable raw material.
The company has just completed a year-long strapping collection 'test case' to see just how much of it is being thrown away by print house customers and how it can be recycled.
"We're used to dealing with mountains of printing waste, but the amount of strapping we're sorting out has still been an eye-opener," said J&G customer service manager Richard Spreadbury. "From the start we collected huge amounts of it and in just under a year we've picked up nearly 9000 kilos of the stuff. In one month alone the tally was over 4200 kilos."
The strapping is now being recycled and emerging as corrugated plastic tubing carrying cables alongside motorways, silage wrap and bin liners.
Spreadbury said more and more printers were asking J&G to collect the strapping for recycling as part of their efforts to achieve the environmental standard ISO 14001.
"Ideally we'd like customers to bale it or contract it into barrels, which we can supply, for ease of transport. Like all industrial waste management, it's all about good housekeeping. What's certain is there's no place for poly strapping in landfill any more."
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For further information please contact:
Richard Spreadbury at J&G Environmental. Telephone: 01258 453445.
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