Get on Board with Recycling Cardboard in Adelaide

Cardboard has become so ubiquitous in our lives that many of us don't appreciate it anymore. Cardboard is the stuff that keeps our coffee from burning our fingers in the morning, the material that keeps our afternoon deliveries safe, the substance that our evening meal may be packaged in. How much thought do we really give this versatile and seemingly inexhaustible material?

The fact is that cardboard and paper products are only inexhaustible if they are properly managed. One of the most beneficial ways of ensuring that we always have a constant supply of cardboard and paper is to use it to its maximum capacity. This is achieved through proper waste removal and recycling processes.

There are several direct and indirect benefits to recovering and recycling cardboard rather than using virgin materials. According to the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), recycling one tonne of paper saves up to 31 trees from being cut down and 4,000 kWh of energy, 270 litres of oil and 26,000 litres of water from being consumed. If this weren't enough to convince you, know that an approximate 5 cubic meters of landfill space is saved when 1 tonne of cardboard is diverted from the waste stream and recycled instead. Of course, local geographies vary so these numbers may change slightly from location to location, but the positive impact remains constant.

Since the process of producing cardboard through recycling used cardboard only consumes three quarters of what is required to produce the same product from virgin sources, there are economic cost savings to recycling cardboard. However, these are not the only cost savings. As it is typically less expensive to produce cardboard and paper from recycled sources, there are cost savings that are passed down to consumers purchasing these products. But the saving don't end there. In many states across Australia, it is cheaper to recycle than it is to landfill waste.

There are many businesses who will choose to landfill waste if the cost to recycle is higher than it is to landfill waste. According to Australian industry network, Sustainability Matters, one landfill's true cost analysis study found that the actual cost to dispose of 1 tonne of solid waste reached the $150 mark. This is one reason why Signal Waste and Recycling works so hard to provide the best rates for waste removal services in Adelaide and beyond. It's about helping others make the right decision.

The global cardboard recycling industry is a mature one that has a high rate of resource recovery. The BIR estimates that more than 50% of the world's 400 million tonnes of cardboard and paper products produced annually come from recovered sources. In South Australia, the cardboard recycling industry is also mature, with 7 licensed paper/cardboard recyclers/waste handlers in operation, according to a 2009 study by Rawtec. The same study found that SA is well poised to handle the expected volume of waste in all categories through 2020.

In SA, 75% of paper and cardboard waste is removed for recycling, while the remaining 25% ends up in one of SA's 71 landfills, according to the Australian government's Environment Department 2012 Waste Profile SA Fact sheet. Most of SA's landfills are small in size (less than 26,000 tonnes capacity) and one of the best ways to prolong the life of a landfill is to use it as sparingly as possible.

Signal Waste and Recycling offers cardboard and paper waste removal and recycling services for Adelaide and all of SA. If you run a business and are in need of industrial sized waste and recycling bins, look no further than Signal Waste and Recycling. We will provide clearly labelled bins to your location and you can feel good about saving the environment, and your business' bottom line, every time we come to pick up your waste and recyclables.