From Seed to Recycling Center: How Companies Can Enable a Circular Economy at Every Step
Author: Kevin Hudson
Recycling is complicated. Whether or not a product sees new life as a recycled version of itself is dependent upon numerous factors at each point in a multi-step process, frequently requiring cooperation from multiple stakeholders. Although it’s easy to feel like only a piece of the puzzle, there are many ways in which companies can help increase the odds that their products are successfully recycled. Circularity has been a pillar of WestRock's business for decades. As a paper and packaging solutions company, we understand that our role doesn’t have to end with delivering products to customers. Since the 1980s, we have operated recycling facilities across the US, recovering the very material we create. We own and operate 18 recycling facilities that are essential to our ability to manage more than 7.5 million tons of recyclables annually. The majority of this recycled material is used in our recycle paper mills, making us one of the largest integrated recyclers in the US. This caliber of infrastructure forms a footprint to both collect and consume recycled fiber, helping our customers give the recycled fiber used in our packaging products two, three often more than eight lives!