Packaging and Cardboard Disposal

With the Easter weekend gone by you may have just started digging into your eggs, or lost all self-control and finished them already. Whatever the pace of your chocolate consumption is, you’ll be left with a lot of packaging to get rid of. The first port of call will be your recycling bin. But with your typical weekly/biweekly packaging waste, are you going to exceed the capacity of your bin? Instead of fretting when your next collection is, use Clearabee for an on-demand bin collection.How much packaging and cardboard waste do we produce?

How much packaging and cardboard waste do we produce?

Research estimates that the UK consumes 80 to 90 million Easter eggs each year. That translates to more than 8,000 tones of packaging being produced by said easter eggs. Other significant dates in the calendar cause an uptick in packaging waste with it estimated that each UK household will throw out 3 black bags worth of packaging waste at Christmas. Research collated by the government reveals that the UK produced nearly 10 million tonnes of cardboard waste in 2018.

What to do if you’ve overfilled your bin with cardboard?

As you reach the capacity of your recycling bin you may be tempted to utilise the space in your general bin. We would strongly advise against as this this action can land you with a pricey fine. Stories floating around the web detail fines of up to £2500. Although these larger fines are down to a lot of people refusing to pay their initial fine and added legal fees, it’s not a chance we’d like anyone to take. Devolved authorities are able to vote and create their own rules for bins and the misuse of bins which adds to the confusion. This means there isn’t a one rule fits all set of guidelines which leads to a level of ambiguity. This is quite concerning for a mistake that is relatively easy to make.

The most convenient way to free yourself of an overflowing bin, whether that’s a generalwaste or recycling bin, is with a Clearabee bin collection. This on-demand, private bin collection service can be at your door the day after you’ve booked to empty your bins and collect any additional waste you may want to remove.

Carboard shortages

The topic of packaging, specifically cardboard has had some interesting dilemmas over the past 12+ months. This is been due to shortages in the UK and other countries. The shortage has been blamed on a number of factors, including how people were unable to visit recycling centres due to the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. This led to people having to hoard cardboard in places such as their garages and sheds.

One thing to be concerned about when there is a shortage of something is how that shortage may affect the price. During these periods where we can see there was a decrease in the supply of cardboard, we can speculate that the demand increased. Statista reports show large swathes of the population have said that they are shopping more online since 2020. This increase in online shopping produces an increase in the amount of cardboard required to ship purchased items to their delivery address. This piece of market analysis shows that from a low point in 2020, the price of cardboard per ton was £73-£92 which rose to a height of £128-£146.

Disposing of your cardboard waste responsibly helps maintain a good flow of cardboard to suppliers as it gets recycled. Responsible methods include your local recycling centres as well as our own Clearabee collections. We are also processing some waste ourselves at our recycling and reuse centre in Birmingham.

Clearabee: We remove rubbish

Our on-demand bin collection service is available for domestic and business customers but we also offer a wide range of different rubbish removal services to suit your needs. From ‘Man & Van’ collections where we’ll do the heavy lifting for you to convenient skip hire services, we’ll be able to clear your waste efficiently and responsibly.