We’ve been shortlisted for the National Recycling Awards!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve been shortlisted in the circular economy category at the National Recycling Awards 2025 for our cardboard box reuse initiative.

The circular economy category was so competitive this year that the organisers had to split it into three: supply chain excellence, processing breakthrough and reuse and redistribution.

Sadlers has been shortlisted in the Circular Economy Initiative: Reuse and Redistribution category alongside the following companies and schemes: 

• Broadgate and Recorra
• Circulayo
• GAP Group North East, Renew2U and Arrow XL
• Mace
• Re3 – Bracknell Forest, Reading, Wokingham Boroughs Council and FCC Environment
• ReLondon
• Resource Futures
• Staffordshire County Council
• Toys 4 Life 

Why has Sadlers been shortlisted?

We run a pioneering box reuse scheme going back to the 1950’s, which started with ammo boxes after the second-world war, moved into tea chests and then became a cardboard box reuse company from the 80s onwards. While newer companies claim to have invented cardboard box reuse, our history proves that we’ve been at the forefront of this niche of the reuse world for many decades. We work with some of the largest companies in the UK to ensure their cardboard waste is reused by others before it’s recycled, pushing waste up the waste hierarchy and saving vast quantities of CO2, water, energy and resources in the process. You can see some of the used cardboard boxes we sell on our website.

The history of the National Recycling Awards

The National Recycling Awards is a UK ceremony set up and run by MRW – Materials Recycling World, a leading publication in the recycling and waste industry. The ceremony has been championing companies and individuals doing groundbreaking work in the waste sector for over 25 years and is held in London annually.

Who won the circular economy category in 2024?

In 2024, the Circular Economy Initiative category was won by Project Boomerang by apetito and Wiltshire Farm Foods. Project Boomerang is a closed-loop system that recycles meal trays from NHS hospitals. In 2024 the project was celebrating the ‘1 million trays recycled’ milestone. 

Where the awards are held?

This year, 2025, the award ceremony will be held in November at the London Hilton Metropole hotel on Edgware Road, a stone’s throw from the Awards for Excellence in Recycling & Waste Management where we won the Circular Economy Initiative award in 2021. 

We look forward to meeting fellow reuse enthusiasts at the ceremony in November!

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