The Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association (PSSMA) recently announced a new industry effort that promotes increased recovery of unlined multiwall paper shipping sacks used to package food or food ingredients for commercial bakeries, restaurants, foodservice providers, institutional kitchens and other entities that prepare food for customer consumption. These paper-shipping sacks can now be recycled with old corrugated containers (OCC).
A new recycling symbol that indicates recyclability has been created for printing on qualified paper shipping sacks. The voluntary on-package recycling symbol must be used in accordance with the guidelines for its use, which are available on the PSSMA website. When users see the new symbol, they can confidently put the empty sacks, shaken clean and free of residue, with their OCC for recycling.
Paper shipping sacks are commonly used for transporting products such as sugar, flour, grains, and other food ingredients. Commercial bakeries, restaurants, foodservice providers, institutional kitchens and other entities most often purchase sacks of ingredients. These businesses often already recycle OCC, so adding paper shipping sacks will be an easy way for them to reduce waste and improve sustainable business practices, while potentially saving money on waste disposal and earning revenue from additional recovered material.
“Unlined multiwall paper shipping sacks have been used to transport a wide range of goods with great success for decades,” says Dick Storat, president of the PSSMA. “They’re lightweight, durable, and economical. They naturally meet a demanding range of performance specifications with a small environmental footprint. Increasing the recovery of paper shipping sacks is in line with the U.S. paper industry’s Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 goal to increase paper recovery for recycling.”
The PSSMA website provides additional information about the recyclability and sustainability of paper shipping sacks. A downloadable information kit is also available to help end users understand how they can optimally recover food paper shipping sacks—information that will be useful for producers who package food products in paper shipping sacks, and for their customers, who ultimately recover or dispose of the sacks. Additional information can be obtained from multiwall sack suppliers. Businesses are also advised to contact their local paper recycler to confirm acceptance of paper shipping sacks before beginning or modifying their recovery program.
For more information, visit www.pssma.org.
