A Stroud District Council spokesperson said:

“All the paper and cardboard placed in green recycling boxes is first taken to a depot in Gossington, then to a paper mill.

During processing, the cardboard is pulped, filtered and de-inked. Any materials such as glue and tape are filtered out.

It certainly helps to simplify the process if people remove as much tape as possible before putting cardboard out for recycling, but it’s not necessary and doesn’t result in the cardboard being unrecyclable.

People should cut or fold large pieces of cardboard down to the approximate size of their recycling box; this will help speed up the collection times, the cardboard will take up less room in the trucks, resulting in less trips to the depot, and less fuel being used.

We’re sorry that a response to Mr Kingsland’s original email wasn’t sent; we apologise for missing it and we’re looking into the reasons why.”