Europe’s paper recycling rate flattens out

Archiv – After increasing by 2.3 percentage points in 2001, Europe’s paper recycling rate went up by 0.6 percentage points in 2002 to reach 52.7%. Recycling therefore continued to develop in a positive way but at a slower pace due to particular market developments.After increasing by 2.3 percentage points in 2001, Europe’s paper recycling rate went up by 0.6 percentage points in 2002 to reach 52.7%. Recycling therefore continued to develop in a positive way but at a slower pace due to particular market developments.
During 2002, collection of recovered paper reached 45.7 million tonnes (+2.5% compared to 2001) while utilisation totalled 43.1m tonnes (+2.3% compared to 2001). Thus, there was a continued steady increase in the use of recovered paper while recovered paper’s share of the European paper industry’s raw material consumption remained stable in contrast to the previous year’s increase. Market developments explain this situation: newsprint production decreased while production of other graphic papers increased; furthermore, recovered paper prices peaked in the summer of 2002 and in many cases more than doubled.
Ulf Frölander, Chairman of the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC), comments: ’Due to strong demand outside Europe (mainly from Asia), recovered paper net exports went up by 7.4%. These show the importance of global market development and the implications this might have on paper recycling in Europe.’
As the recycling rate increases, further incremental growth will become more difficult. Understanding of the potential for recovered paper collection has been enhanced by a study on non-collectable/non-recyclable paper products. It has been estimated that 19% of paper products put on the market cannot be collected or recycled due to technical reasons or because they are used in permanent applications such as cigarette paper, tissue paper and archiving. ’Taking this into account, we see that the maximum collection rate would not be 100%, but rather 81% or even less,’ says Mr Frölander. ’This effectively reveals the true potential of paper recycling in Europe.’
The role of policy and legislation in this context takes on ever greater importance, and the industry has high expectations with regard to the Thematic Strategy on Prevention and Recycling of Waste that is currently being prepared by the European Commission. ’A continuous increase in paper recycling is a true demonstration of a right approach to sustainable development where environmental, social and economic pillars are taken into account in a balanced way,’ says Kim Holmström of the Enterprise Directorate General of the European Commission, who sits in on ERPC meetings as an observer.
The voluntary European Declaration on Paper Recovery contributes to the Community’s overall target of sustainable development. The industry would like the European Commission to recognise the importance of voluntary measures when drafting its Thematic Strategies, in the hope that the result will be the supportive and stable framework that is required if paper recycling is to continue to increase in Europe.