THE HISTORY OF BAILEY WASTE RECYCLING LTD

"What is the waste paper trade?" asked J. Rowland Bailey of his friend in 1940 when, due to wartime restriction on the supply of petrol, he found himself without a job, wondering how he could earn a living to keep himself, his wife and four young children.

The idea of becoming a waste paper merchant formed from a meeting arranged by his friend and neighbour, Cecil Forsythe a director of Alex Thom & Co with a Mr George Mumford, an Englishman who had come to Dublin to manage Killeen Paper Mills. Mr Mumford expressed the view that waste paper would become a very necessary commodity for paper and board making as there would be a shortage of raw materials.

J. R. Bailey rented premises in Rutland Place for £1.15s.00d per week and his first customers were the Bank of Ireland and Alex. Thom & Co (now a Smurfit Group Co). Smithfield Waste Paper Co. (which subsequently became J. R. Bailey Ltd) was formed and has now been involved in collecting, sorting and grading waste paper for over 60 years.

Wartime trading was very difficult, as horse transport was the only means of collecting supplies and hauling heavy bales to the paper mills in Inchicore and Clondalkin. At that time there were five paper and board mills in the Dublin area, and a sixth was built in Waterford in the 1960’s. Sadly now, there are no paper/tissue mills in the 26 counties. There is one in the North of Ireland and one corrugated/fluting mill in the South.

Wartime brought government control of both buying and selling prices of the 50 different grades of waste paper. One also had to be licensed to trade. It is interesting to reflect that the highest selling price was 19s.6d (97P) per hundredweight and the lowest was 6sh (30p) per hundredweight.

During the 1950’s rapid expansion took place, when tonnage increased from 40 tonnes per week to over 250 tonnes per week. This necessitated a move to larger premises in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, and investment in larger and more up to date machinery.

In 1970 the company formed a joint association with a subsidiary of the UK Reed Group, and soon merged with two other waste paper companies in Dublin and became known as Maybank (Ireland) Ltd.

This association was by now processing up to 1000 tonnes per week, 80% of which was for the Irish market. This lasted until 1978, when, due to the closure of two of the major user mills in the Republic, Maybank (Ireland) Ltd was sold to the Smurfit Group, who at that time were expanding their board mill in Clonskeagh and needed a guaranteed supply of waste paper.

J. R. Bailey is now also a large importer and distributor of various paper products and and the trade in paper recycling continues under the name of Bailey Waste Recycling Ltd. It concentrates on handling the higher grades of waste paper, chiefly for the export market.

The founder of the Company, the original J. R. died in 1979. The 2nd and 3rd generation of the Bailey family now run the company and sees no reason why it will not continue for another 60 years.