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It is a legal requirement for waste collection companies to be licensed by the Environmental Agency. Additionally, it is a legal requirement for printing companies to check that companies employed to remove waste are appropriately licensed.

Ideally the waste collection company will provide a range of containers for different categories of waste paper: white, mixed and cardboard; thus allowing effective reuse.

The paper merchant is a crucial link between paper maker and paper user. The merchant, working closely with printers and paper specifiers, offers the maker distribution and market intelligence. In the case of specialist recycled paper merchant Paperback (sensitive to its customers’ environmental consciousness), this has often meant working with manufacturers to fill a market gap. In the 1980s, for example, Paperback developed the first recycled coated paper. At the beginning of this century it launched Context, the first FSC certified paper on the European market. And in 2009/10 the closure of a number of mills forced an extensive resourcing of products.

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Most printing companies have close relationships with a small number of merchants and have ‘contract rates’ for papers they purchase on a regular basis.

Waste paper is generated at all stages of the print process:
• If paper is cut down before print
• During the set up of the printing press
• During the running of the printing press
• After printing when the paper is cut to finished size or ready for finishing
• During the set up of finishing operations
• During the running of finishing operations

Waste paper generated during the process should be segregated ready for collection. If this is done, the printing company benefits financially and the paper cycle benefits through effective recycling. All too often this does not happen.