DS Smith Recycling
DS Smith Recycling is Europe’s largest recycler of paper and cardboard, collecting 5.4 million tonnes per year. We promote Supply Cycle Thinking, helping our customers to implement solutions that lead to zero waste. Our mission is to ensure that materials are used and reused as efficiently as possible. Our strapline, The Power of Less, celebrates our belief in cutting out unnecessary complexity, waste, and costs, while promoting better efficiency, more recycling and increased prosperity. It’s about helping customers achieve more with less environmental impact. DS Smith does not invest in landfill – only in innovative business processes that help to promote zero waste.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Service provider
- Industry Type:
- Waste and Recycling - Paper Recycling
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
- Year Founded:
- 1975
- Employees:
- 101-1000
About Us
As one of the leading waste management and recycling companies, we deliver sustainable business recycling services. Our services range from paper recycling and cardboard recycling through to total waste management solutions tailored to helping our customers achieve zero waste.
We are committed to providing our customers with a world-class recycling service through our commitment to quality, innovation, customer service and the environment.
We are part of the DS Smith Group, a leading European integrated packaging company. DS Smith Recycling operates in a number of countries across continental Europe to complement our Group’s production infrastructure. Our Group’s mission is to be the leading supplier of sustainable packaging.
We close the loop within our own company – collecting paper and cardboard, recycling it, and sending it back to our Packaging division to ensure that our products are sustainable. We can take a cardboard box and turn it into another box within 14 days.
DS Smith Recycling have established an international network of recycling and recovery facilities, ensuring our customers always have access to the best available recycling and landfill diversion technologies.
Our customer base ranges from some of Europe’s best-known retail organisations right through to thousands of small enterprises and a variety of public-sector bodies.
Our materials recycling audit service, carried out on a site by site basis, will benchmark your current performance against achievable best practice – identifying business recycling opportunities to divert waste from landfill and increase recycling and other recovery possibilities, enabling you to take advantage of the resulting cost savings.
There’s only one way
We also pride ourselves on being proactive in the development of insightful and educational white papers and blogs which focus on key developments in our industry. In particular we feel it’s important to comment and campaign about issues which lead to less contamination and better quality recycling.
‘Defining the balance in Recycling’ explores why focusing on quality is better the industry – but can also save costs and add revenue to your business. Download your copy to explore why quality cannot be compromised in the face of rising recycling targets.
Ultimately at DS Smith we know what it takes to achieve the highest possible quality of recycling that’s demanded in the modern world we live in. Quality and the journey to zero waste remain our highest priorities.
Quality of Raw Materials
The quality of the materials we collect and recycle is at the heart of everything we do at DS Smith.
Being part of the DS Smith Group makes us different to other companies in our sector, because we aren’t just collectors of recyclate: we’re packaging producers, too. If the materials we collect for our paper and packaging operations are contaminated, it means that entire batches can be wasted, so quality is central to our operations.
As a consequence, promoting and maximising recycling to reach the highest quality standards is central to our ethos. That’s why our ‘Defining the balance in Recycling’ report explores the importance of quality
We believe that it’s easier to ensure high quality recycling by collecting materials through a source-segregated system. This results in less contamination, and higher quality material.
Improving recycling standards
Current legislation was introduced as part of the Waste Framework Directive in January 2015 in England and Wales. It is now a legal requirement for paper, plastic, metals and glass to be collected separately unless it is not technically, environmentally or economically practicable (TEEP) to do so.
We view this legislation in a positive light as it underpins our drive to ensure waste producers and collectors work positively together to ensure quality material is collected for recycling.
The Waste Hierarchy
At DS Smith, we follow the principles of the Waste Hierarchy by starting at the top of the pyramid and not settling for processes which are just above taking waste to landfill. We encourage our customers to deal with their waste as high up the Waste Hierarchy as possible, reducing and reusing where possible before we consider recycling.
DS Smith actively champions the importance of source segregation within our industry.
Our External Affairs Manager, Peter Clayson, is the chairman of The Resource Association trade body, which focuses on improving the value of UK recycling.
Our Head of Recycling, Dr Jim Malone, was chairman of the CEPI (The Confederation of European Paper Industries) Recycling and Products Committee in 2014 and is an active member of the new CEPI Raw Materials Committee.