Logistics behind the recovered paper trade: for the confused

This is a blog dedicated to the clueless but curious in what the logistics are behind the recovered paper trade. Let’s say those in the industry who work in finance or marketing. 

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We all know that used materials, such as paper or cardboard, gets collected by recycling companies, is sorted, baled up, then sent to be processed at paper mills or other recycling facilities. 

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But how does it get there, and who is responsible for the logistics? 

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Where it all begins

Recovered paper doesn’t magically appear at a mill. It starts with collection. Municipal waste programs, commercial waste handlers, and dedicated recycling companies collect the material from households, businesses, supermarkets, and industrial sites.

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At this stage, logistics mostly involve local transport fleets. Trucks picking up from multiple locations and delivering the collected material to Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) or transfer stations. This is managed by local waste contractors or city departments, depending on the country and region.

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The behind the scenes

Once at a facility, the paper is sorted by grade (e.g., old corrugated cardboard, office paper, newspaper) and contaminants like plastic or food residue are removed.

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Who handles this? Specialised MRFs or processors. They operate under tight quality controls since paper mills require specific grades with minimal contamination.

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The sorted paper is then compacted into bales, imagine huge rectangular bundles tied with wire, ready for shipping.

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The business part

Recovered paper is a commodity, traded much like metals or oil. Buyers may be domestic paper mills, overseas mills, or intermediaries who act as brokers.

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Export markets are a massive part of the trade. That means that once bales are ready, someone must arrange international transport. 

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From point A to B

Here’s the core logistics bit. 

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One of the main forms of transport is through trucking (or hauliers). Bales are loaded into containers or trailers and moved by truck, either to a local buyer or to a port if they’re being exported overseas.  

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All of this must happen on tight schedules and amid a healthy amount of paperwork of permissions and compliances that each country requires, which is mostly arranged by import and export coordinators, the transportation team, as well as the compliance team. 

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Who’s in charge of logistics?

Several players could be managing logistics:

• The recycling company may handle logistics in-house or use a third-party logistics (3PL) provider.
  
  
• The paper trader or broker may coordinate transport from seller to buyer.
  
  
• Dedicated freight forwarders specialise in moving recycled materials and managing export compliance.
  
  
• In many cases, it's a combination: recycling companies arrange local trucking, while brokers handle the export logistics.
  
  

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To sum it up, it’s a web of collaboration between operations, sales, and compliance teams.

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Hopefully, this gives you a clearer picture of what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

So next time those monthly meetings roll around, you can tune in instead of zoning out and staring at the most interesting object on the wall or thinking of what you will have for dinner that night. 😉

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