In the last few years waste management, creation and circular economies has significantly increased in importance for all manufacturers and as we head into 2023, the pressure is likely to increase. The ultimate aim has to be looking after our planet and behaving in a sustainable and ethical way and despite excellent recycling rates, cardboard packaging manufacturers are not immune.

Last year, part of our multi million-pound investment included the installation of new system taking waste cardboard from the machines to our baler. All production waste when we are producing cardboard products goes back into the recycling loop, however doing this efficiently and sustainably before it gets there is as important as recycling itself.

The £120k investment in a state-of-the-art extraction system was another key part of our expansion plans. The old vacuum type extraction system that we previously used was no longer up to the standard and our two new Eterna die-cutters in 2022 required a system that could keep up with the increased production in our factory. In addition to this, and as equally important, was a system that used a lot less energy.

The old system regularly clogged up with waste cardboard and had to be manually cleared which was far from ideal. Instead of what effectively were noisy industrial vacuum cleaners, the new system uses a conveyor style system where waste from the machines is extracted by a belt, and fed into a main line (in blue) above the machines and taken across the factory into the baler.

The new system was installed by M&K Trading, and is over 60 metres in length spanning our entire factory. The system is not only much more efficient, but also offers a 90% saving in energy usage over the old system. The bails are then collected by our waste partners, pulped and recreated into paper reels ready for more cardboard production. The process of bailing waste, sending it for re-processing and producing paper reels can take as little as two weeks.