The book you ordered online has arrived and now you want to recycle the cardboard box. You take it to local recycling point, but who is actually responsible for organising the recycling facilities and operations? Many people assume that the local municipals are responsible, but in most cases it is actually the company which produced the product. This is called producer responsibility. “It is common to see producer responsibility for tyres, batteries, consumer electronics and packages,” says Teemu Virtanen, Senior Advisor at Pirkanmaa ELY-Centre. “The companies that produce or import the items are responsible for financing and organising waste management. In practice, companies can’t do it alone, so they use producer organisations.” UPM is committed to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and has identified the goals and respective targets where it can have the biggest positive impact through its operations, products, and solutions, or where it aims to minimise any negative impact. The company considers producer responsibility to be part of the SDG 12, with Responsible consumption and production, that being one of the six chosen UPM´s focus goals. The practicalities of producer responsibility can vary from country to country, so UPM is active in each local system. For example, in Finland UPM is a customer of the Finnish Packaging Recycling organisation RINKI.

Resonating with the ambitious EU regulatory targets for reducing waste, UPM Specialty Papers has introduced a new “LinerLoop compatible” label to promote closed loop recycling of release papers used in self-adhesive labels and tapes. Release papers carrying the label qualify for recycling in UPM LinerLoopTM, which is the first commercial-scale closed-loop recycling solution for silicone coated release papers. Currently some 50% of used release papers and matrix materials are recycled in Europe, but it is estimated that only 15% are recycled back to release papers in a closed loop (source: CELAB, AWA). As a member of CELAB-Europe and AFERA, UPM Specialty Papers works towards increasing the share of closed-loop recycling. Recycling silicone coated papers in a circular fashion is a technically demanding process. One factor, for instance, impacting closed-loop recycling is the shade of paper. As the typical shade of glassine used in label applications is white or some other light shade, recycling darker coloured glassine grades in the same stream would contaminate the recycled pulp.

These higher grade medical masks, which are much sought after, have been donated with the assistance of The Solidarity Fund to the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health on Monday 15 June. This donation is at a cost of just under R10 million and the result of a truly collaborative effort across the global Mondi network. "As MEC of Health in Kwa-Zulu Natal, I am deeply appreciative of Mondi’s contribution. The FFP3/N95 respiratory masks are in high demand because they are designed to protect medical staff when caring for patients known or suspected to be infected with a newly identified infectious respiratory virus. The masks will be distributed to public hospitals across the province over the coming weeks," said KZN Health MEC Ms Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu.