Lyreco and Fellowes Team Up for Paper Initiative

(OCTOBER 5, 2021) - Reseller Lyreco and supplier Fellowes Brands are working together on a closed loop paper recycling solution.

The companies have partnered in the French market for a project which, over time, aims to re-use 4,000 tons of paper – about 5% of the paper Lyreco sells in France each year.

The concept is quite straightforward. Lyreco places waste office paper collection bins (made out of recycled cardboard) at customer locations. When full, the bins are picked up by Lyreco delivery drivers during their regular stops. The paper is stocked at a Lyreco regional hub before going to a main distribution center and then on for processing. Fellowes then uses this product in archive boxes it supplies to Lyreco.

It is not a service that is provided for free to customers. Each bin costs $40 before tax, but this includes a collection certificate and an annual statement showing how much paper a customer has contributed. Lyreco will also provide smaller collection boxes depending on the size of the workplace and give advice on what to do with confidential printouts. Again, the Fellowes partnership comes into play here, this time with its shredders.

Aimée Chevalier, Quality, Safety and Sustainable Development Manager at Lyreco France, said no corners had been cut when devising the initiative and that it had required a significant investment.

“We have succeeded in developing a 100% French solution,” she said. “The paper is collected, sorted and turned into new products in France. The icing on the cake is that it is then re-used by the very companies that took part at the start of the process.”

Lyreco said, at almost 900,000 tones, paper represents more than 50% of the waste generated by companies and public sector agencies in France. On average, each French worker consumes about three reams of office paper a month, according to an ADEME study. Yet, despite new legislation in the past few years, the majority of wastepaper is neither collected nor recycled.  - (OPI)