Page 39 from: September 2007
on Paper Recycling, issued in 2006, sets a target of
66% paper collection in 2010 for the 27 member
states of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland.
The European utilisation rate increased by 0.2 per-
centage points to 47.8% last year following a very suc-
cessful 2005 when it climbed 1.4 percentage points.
Noting the trend towards paper exports for pro-
cessing in developing countries, Chairman of the
European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) Anders
Hildeman said in a report by the international asso-
ciation of the deinking industry (INGEDE): ‘The
European industry has, on average, a better envi-
ronmental performance than the paper industry in
other parts of the world.’
Asia’s spectacular demand
For traders, 2006 was a good year thanks mainly
to China’s booming paper industry. Over the last
decade, the country’s recovered paper imports have
leapt more than 500% – from 3.4 million tonnes in
1996 to 21.6 million tonnes in 2006 – with most of
that growth occurring between 2002 and 2006.
Around 60% of the supply for China’s paper produc-
tion consists of recycled paper, with 75% coming
from the USA, Japan and the UK. China’s paper and
board capacity has grown in ten years (1995-2005)
from 36 million tonnes to total 64 million tonnes and
is expected to hit 86 million tonnes by 2008.
India’s demand for paper is also on a continuous
growth curve. According to Anil Kumar, President
of the Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association
(IPPTA), India’s paper industry produced 7.5 mil-
lion tonnes of the world’s 325 million tonnes in
2006, which ranks the country fifteenth in the
world in terms of output. from the existing 7.5 mil-
lion tons By 2010-11, paper production is estimated
to reach 8.5-9 million tonnes. Per capita consump-
tion of paper in India is 7-7.5 kg per annum com-
pared to a world average of around 40 kg. Over the
coming years, however, IPPTA expects annual
demand to explode, with annual consumption pre-
dicted to reach 20 million tonnes by 2020 – equiva-
lent to an average yearly growth of 6.5%. ‘The
Indian paper industry is expected to fall short of
demand by 1.5 million tonnes by 2010-11 due to raw
material constraints,’ according to Mr Kumar.
P A P E R R E C Y C L I N G
Recycling International • September 2007 39
Japan – Asia’s leading paper recycler
Japan is the world’s largest producer of paper after the USA and China, with total production last year of
31.106 million tonnes. For decades now, Japan has also enjoyed a high rate of paper recycling efficiency.
According to statistics from Japan’s Paper Recycling Promotion Centre (PRPC), the recovery rate rose from
50.2% in 1985 to 72.4% in 2006 (2005: 71.1%).
Three categories (newsprint, magazines and corrugated containers) account for 80% of all recovered
papers. Japan used 18.8 million tonnes of the recovered paper in new paper products while 3.8 million
tonnes was exported, mainly to China. The utilisation rate climbed 0.3 percentage points last year to 60.6%,
edging Japan ever closer to its 2010 target of 62%.
For a number of years, Japan’s government bodies have been obliged to use products made from recycled
paper. The country’s so-called Green Procurement Law also demands that local authorities make an effort to
use such products. All local authorities in Japan operate separate collection schemes for recovered paper.
19
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EUROPE
50
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USA
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JAPAN
Recycling rates*
Europe, United
States and Japan
*Recycling rate: recovered paper as a percentage
of total fibre consumption in new paper.
Data coming from Cepi, AF&PA and PRPC
75% of China’s recycled paper imports is coming from the USA,
Japan and the UK
g Asian demand
RI_028 PaperStatistics:Opmaak 1 05-09-2007 16:37 Pagina 39
