Recycling is the first step in a supply chain that provides raw materials to make new packaging.   And with more of our recyclables going to domestic markets in the wake of China’s National Sword policy, which upended the decades-long export of 40% of our paper and plastic, COVID’s impact on the U.S. recycling industry has been even greater.  That’s one of the reasons recycling was deemed an “essential service” early on in the pandemic.  A national recycling industry official explained recently that “instead of thinking about recycling as something that just happens in kitchens and garages, recycling is really the first step in the manufacturing process that we rely on for our grocery and healthcare items, among other things.”  Another industry official put it this way. “Recycling is not just beneficial, it’s absolutely necessary, and despite the destructive nature of COVID-19, the pandemic can provide the impetus to build a brighter and better future for recycled products.”

📷: Pratt Industries. Inside Pratt Industries’ new (2019) recycled paper mill and corrugating facility in Wapakoneta, Ohio where cardboard boxes are made with 100% recycled content. 

Pratt Recycling, with five U.S. paper mills, makes 100% recycled cardboard boxes out of mixed paper (household mail, cereal boxes, newspapers, magazines) and cardboard that is collected in recycling programs across the nation.  Pratt’s president explained in a recent article,  “We’re essential because we need boxes to pack all the supplies that have to get to people…. sanitary supplies like toilet paper and paper towels, food products and medical supplies all arrive to their destination in boxes”.  A Greif Recycling executive put a finer point on it:  “Critical products and tools needed to help those with COVID-19 and prevent its spread in the workplace and at home, would not be readily available without recycled fiber to help produce the packaging required”.