Are Recycling Facilities Getting Enough Fiber?

In September 2021, I wrote about the paper industry’s robust and expanding recycling capacity in the U.S. But are these growing recycling facilities getting enough fiber?  

Flash forward three years later to August 2024, recycling of high-volume paper products – pizza boxes, coffee cups and consumer shipping boxes to name a few – are all on the rise in the U.S. Why? One reason is the Paper and Packaging Board, among others, has been promoting the growing acceptance of these high-volume paper products for recycling and their increasing recovery.  

But getting consumers to pay attention to changes in what local recycling guidelines allow is an uphill battle. According to new research from our campaign, consumers 18 and older are not actively looking for and following changes to local guidelines and what gets accepted.

This sort of one and done attitude about recycling, meaning “I already know what I can recycle” is a major barrier to the collection of new products for recycling like coffee cups and pizza boxes.  

Our data is clear that consumers still want to recycle and do the right thing. And the industry as mentioned in my previous blog has built and continues to invest in building recycling infrastructure. How do we tell consumers that recycling is dynamic and evolving and to actively pay attention to local recycling updates and changes?  

That is a question that goes far beyond paper companies and their mills. America’s major paper waste collectors and haulers have an outsized role to play in getting those evolving and dynamic guidelines in front of consumers. And updating their own guidance on what they will take too. This includes regularly updating their guidelines and communicating them to their customers as well. Let’s all do our part to get that fiber back and make the most use of our natural resources!