Green and Confused: Thinking outside of the envelope

Why letters can be banned from the recyling bin
Kieran Cooke


Question
I regularly receive mail in envelopes bearing exhortations about recycling. Yet my local paper recycling bin has a sign saying “No envelopes”. What’s going on?
Answer
The glue and those little plastic windows in envelopes are both considered to be rubbish products or “contraries” by the paper recycling trade. Money is the key factor. The greater the amount of envelopes and other non-pure materials included in a batch of paper sent for recycling, the lower the price.
So the paper recycling companies that put bins in supermarket car parks and other locations, plus the cash-hungry councils that collect paper from your doorstep, discourage recycling envelopes. This is a little ridiculous. Computers were supposed to cut back our use of paper. But the reverse has happened: anyone who is reasonably computer literate can produce a flyer to be stuffed in an envelope and sent out with all the other junk mail. Paper and cardboard make up nearly 30 per cent of the average household waste bin, with each family in the UK using the paper equivalent of about six trees a year.
In recent years more paper has been recycled, not because of heightened concern for the environment but because there would not be enough to go round. Paper manufacturers have had to develop new technologies and recycle more to cope with demand. Bubbles are injected into printed matter: the ink sticks to the bubbles, rises to the surface and is skimmed off. Coloured paper can be turned into white sheets. Directories can emerge as fine writing paper — and envelopes can, at a price, be mixed with cardboard and become packaging.
The UK exports nearly three million tonnes of paper for recycling to China each year.
If you obey the rules and don’t put your envelopes in the bin you can of course reuse them by buying stick-on labels: many charities sell them. The really conscientious can tear off the envelope flap and its glue and remove the plastic windows.
Whatever you do, don’t send the envelopes to landfill. Contrary to popular belief, paper and print take years to decompose. If you think junk mail is a pain now imagine future generations having to cope with 50-year-old piles of it.
E-mail your eco-dilemmas to
greenandconfused@thetimes.co.uk