Discarded cardboard is a waste that plagues all across Australia. It litters the bins, garages and sheds of our homes. Though more concerningly for businesses, it can become an overwhelming problem without processes or equipment to minimise its volume.
Commercial buildings in Australia deal mainly with cardboard and paper waste, with these materials demanding 76% of the bin space compared to plastic, glass and food wastes (1).
Though despite cardboard and paper waste accounting for approximately 5.8 mega tonnes of Australia’s waste in 2020 to 2021 (2), many businesses – small like retail and office buildings, through to large industrial sites, still opted to shrug it off as normal. The consequence of this out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality is that high costs were and continue to accumulate in the disposal of this unmanaged waste.
To reduce the damage cardboard and other wastes are placing on the environment, Australian industry and government have together shared their support behind The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) and their 2025 National Packaging Targets – viewable here. The APCO describes these targets as “Australia’s journey towards a circular economy for packaging”.
Unfortunately, these targets aren’t expected to be fully reached by the 2025 timeline (3), as seen through the ‘100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging’ target which, for example in 2019-20, was only realised at 86%.
This stumble in reaching the targets, although disappointing, has in-turn generated a significant level of awareness into how solvable this waste problem is. Many businesses are now reviewing their processes, pinpointing why used materials within their operations like cardboard can’t be fully reinvested into the circular economy for packaging.
Waste Initiatives is supporting these environmentally responsible businesses, by sharing our expertise across the WastePac range of baler and compactor machinery.
There are two different types of balers within the WastePac range (vertical and horizontal), which both provide various advantages and different customisable figurations – suitable to the goals and budget of a business. Before purchasing a cardboard baler, there are several other factors that businesses should carefully consider. We list these considerations, as well as the recommended actions businesses should undertake when ready to obtain a cardboard baler, here.
To view our range of compactors, in particular the WastePac roto compactors which are particularly effective for reducing the volume of cardboard received in store deliveries, click here.
- https://skipthetip.com/business-waste-stats-in-australia/
- https://acehub.org.au/news/how-much-waste-does-australia-generate-and-where-does-it-go#:~:text=Most%20used%20materials%20%E2%80%93%20waste%20generation%20vs%20recycling&text=These%20were%20followed%20by%207.4,2.6%20mega%20tonnes%20of%20plastics.
- https://apco.org.au/national-packaging-targets