Coronavirus could impact UK fiber market

U.K. recycling and packaging industries are concerned about a looming fiber shortage as more and more local councils suspend their regular recycling collections amidst the coronavirus pandemic, reports The Guardian.

Struggling to cope with a surge in waste collection as households remain under lockdown, local authorities are increasingly scaling back and even suspending food, green waste and recycling collections.

As more barriers spring up to prevent distribution, The Recycling Association says it has huge concerns about a potential European and even worldwide shortage of fiber, which is used to manufacture millions of cardboard boxes essential for food and medical supplies distribution.

With home deliveries skyrocketing, much of the fiber will end up in general household bins, which means it will be incinerated or go into landfill, the association warns. Valuable quantities of fiber have also been lost from major high street retailers such as McDonald’s, Primark, John Lewis, Argos and B&Q after non-essential businesses were told to close.

“Of huge concern to us is the signs that Europe is already becoming short of fiber with which to make cardboard boxes,” says Simon Ellin, chief executive of The Recycling Association. “Food and medical supplies all move by cardboard box and if we can’t make cardboard boxes, everything stops. If councils stop collecting recycling, and many are, all this fiber is burnt or goes to landfill, and we will be short.”