Why Recycling Print Is Important

Today’s commercial print is still often made for single use. Think of flyers, kraft bags, or leaflets. What do you do once your commercial print has fulfilled its purpose and comes toward the end of its life? Most likely, you will throw it away.

As the leading marketplace for customised print products,  at HelloPrint we offer products that often have value for only one specific event to market your business. Even though we do not own the products themselves, being a marketplace means we need to take responsibility and facilitate the recycling process of the products we offer. To make this happen, we want to give you all the information you need to make smart recycling decisions next time you work with us.  

Why is recycling important?

Recycling is the process of turning old materials that would have been thrown away into input for new products and items – the more we recycle, the less garbage ends up in landfills and the ecosystem. 

Materials such as paper, aluminium, glass, and plastic are commonly recycled and reused as raw material input for new products. By recycling them, you can save a  lot of production and energy costs while also avoiding the impact of extraction and processing of virgin materials.. Long story short: recycling such materials has a double positive effect on the environment – so we highly encourage you to get started!

Recycling best practices

Properly disposing of your old print is often not as easy as it seems. Waste management is regulated by local municipalities and varies across regions and the products themselves, which is why we recommend always checking the recycling guidelines in your country and region. In the UK, recycling is organised at the local level and picked up by the municipality, which means that the recycling advice can be very dependent on your location. The recycling containers are usually located on the roadside, where your waste can be separated according to the following waste streams:   

While some printed goods can easily be recycled at your communal roadside container, what do you do with big banners, flags, or exhibition stands? As these products are too big to be thrown away in small recycling containers, your best options always are

• Organising a pick-up beforehand or
• Disposing of all single-use products and materials at the local recycling centre 

For more specific information on recycling different items, platforms such as Recycle Now and governmental advice assist you in finding the recycling advice based on your postal code. 

Do you want to learn more about recycling best practices? Below, you can find different blog articles that explore the recycling of special materials and product groups to make recycling your Helloprint products easy and convenient.