The new recycling facility in Reading, Pennsylvania will help create a closed-loop manufacturing model and support customers to achieve their sustainable packaging commitments
The new plant will recycle more than 36,000 tonnes of old corrugated cardboard per annum. (Credit: Ben Kerckx from Pixabay)
Sustainable packaging solutions provider DS Smith has opened its first US recycling facility in Reading, Pennsylvania to expand its business activities in North America.
The 43,000ft² Reading facility is located beside the firm’s paper mill and within a mile from its packaging plant. It will help in creating a closed-loop manufacturing model and support customers to meet their sustainable packaging commitments, the company said.
The Reading plant can recycle more than 36,000 tonnes of old cardboard each year
DS Smith North America recycling head Toby Earnest said: “This new plant can recycle over 36,000 tonnes of old corrugated cardboard each year, creating new fully recyclable packaging for our customers in this region.”
DS Smith said that its recycling plant separates other materials such as plastic, glass and metal to compress the remaining recyclable cardboard and paper into large bundled bales, weighing as much as a ton each.
Later, the recycling facility will service the paper mill and market recycled packaging products to its partners and others.
The company claims that the recycling facility can convert old cardboard into new corrugated boxes within 14 days. Additionally, the recycling process can also reduce the amount of fibre in its boxes by up to 30%.
Using the latest technology and processes, DS Smith’s new facility can manage over 5.5 million tonnes of material for recycling per annum.
The local team will collaborate with others in the region to recover paper for recycling from local distribution centres, packaging facilities, retailers and print shops, in addition to material from DS Smith’s Reading corrugated packaging plant.
DS Smith North America packaging managing director Mark Ushpol said: “We are very excited about the growth opportunity in the United States and increasing our investment in the Reading community.”
In January, DS Smith opened a new box manufacturing plant in Lebanon, Indiana. The new 550,000ft² corrugated facility will be equipped to produce more than 17 million ft² of lightweight recyclable packaging a day.