In today’s world, sustainability and environmental responsibility are more important than ever. One of the key areas where businesses can make a significant impact is through the recycling of paper towels. This practice not only helps in reducing waste but also conserves natural resources and energy. Bunzl Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies have teamed up with Tork to introduce PaperCircle into their Sustainable Solution ‘RecycleConnect’.
The hidden environmental cost of kitchen rolls and paper towels
At first glance, kitchen roll and paper towels may seem like a minor environmental issue, but their production and disposal contribute to deforestation, excessive water use and significant carbon emissions. Add in the plastic packaging on some products, and the environmental burden grows even heavier. From landfill waste to ocean pollution, the full cost of kitchen rolls and washroom paper towels extends well beyond their convenience.
As stricter waste and carbon regulations loom, adopting a recycling program now can help future-proof your business and ensure regulatory compliance.
Why throw away hand towel waste when it can be turned into new paper products?
BCHS works with Tork PaperCircle as it gives the end user an easy, cost-effective way to achieve their waste reduction targets while maintaining a great restroom experience.
- Reduce Landfill Waste: It is crucial to dispose of paper hand towels. Paper towels, just like any other waste, contribute to landfills. When not disposed of properly, they can take years to decompose fully.
- Conserve Resources: Additionally, the manufacturing process of paper towels involves cutting down trees, which contributes to deforestation. Recycling and purchasing recycled paper products helps to save trees, water and energy.
- Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The process of recycling paper produces fewer greenhouse gases compared to manufacturing new paper from raw materials.
Tork’s PaperCircle – The Recycling Process
Tork’s PaperCircle is the first recycling service for paper hand towels. They help businesses go circular by recycling used towels into new tissue products.
Create sustainable value with Tork PaperCircle:
- Reduce waste
- Go circular
- Reach your sustainability targets
- Get easy access to reports
How it works…
- Restroom users throw hand towels in a separate bin after use.
- Cleaning operatives collect used towels, keep them separate on their trolley and then empty them into a specific container.
- Waste handlers/logistic partners collect the used hand towels before taking them to an Essity mill to be recycled.
- Your used hand towels gain new life as recycled tissue products.
At the paper mill
One of the most interesting parts of the recycling process happens at the paper mill. Once the recycling partner delivers the paper hand towels to the Essity mill they go through a specialised process to recycle wet-strong paper. As paper hand towels contain wet-strong agents (to stop them from dissolving as we dry our hands) they need to go through a dissolving process to enable recycling of the paper fibres.
To recycle the used paper hand towel, they are mixed with water in the pulper, and treated in a dedicated dissolving process to deactivate the wet-strong agent.
The used paper towels are stored at a high temperature for a defined period of time to ensure a hygienically safe product.
Then the fibres are separated and mixed with other pulp in the mill. The tissue machine then produces new tissue products.
With PaperCircle, you can turn waste into a sustainability success story – helping the environment, enhancing your corporate reputation, and staying ahead in a rapidly evolving business landscape. At BCHS, we have rolled out paper towel recycling across our sites to transform our paper waste today!
Click to learn how our RecycleConnect initiatives, includin
