Packaging Waste: Skips and Collections for Mixed Packaging

Packaging waste is generated wherever goods arrive: retail stock deliveries, warehouse and distribution operations, office moves, manufacturing, new-build handovers, and fit-outs where furniture, fixtures and equipment come wrapped and boxed.

Packaging fills space long before it adds weight, so larger containers offer better value. A 12 yard or 16 yard skip suits most fit-outs, and roll-on roll-off containers suit large commercial volumes where there is room. Light waste can blow away, so an enclosed skip or a covered container is worth considering on exposed or public sites. For ongoing volumes, scheduled collections or wheelie bins are usually more practical.

Mixed packaging is sorted at authorised facilities into streams such as cardboard, plastic film, rigid plastics, metals and wood. Each stream is then baled or processed and sent to reprocessors. Some plastics, especially mixed or heavily contaminated ones, are harder to recycle and may go to energy recovery instead. Separating cardboard, film and pallets on site gives each material its best chance of being recycled – see our cardboard and timber pages.

All businesses have a duty of care for their waste and should keep waste transfer notes. In Wales, workplace recycling rules require separation of key recyclables, including plastics, metals, glass, paper and card. Larger packaging producers may also have obligations under packaging producer responsibility rules, which are separate from waste collection – check guidance from the relevant authority for your business.