Europe beats paper recycling target

Europe – Europe achieved a paper recycling rate of 68.9% last year – outstripping the target laid down in the industry’s European Paper Recycling Declaration 2006-2010, according to a report released by the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC).

The document confirms that the recycling rate in Europe has increased by 10 percentage points since 2004.

While ‘proud’ of the progress made since the industry’s initial pledge in the year 2000 to increase paper recycling within Europe, the ERPC reports that a new and ambitious commitment is being prepared for the period running from 2011 to 2015. In addition to quantitative progress, a considerable amount of qualitative work has been carried out towards improving recyclability and in the area of waste prevention, according to the ERPC. For example, ‘pioneering’ work has been conducted to give recycling ‘a solid and scientific support’, such as through the adoption of a ‘deinkability’ scorecard.

The ERPC was set up following the launch of the ‘European Declaration on Paper Recovery’ industry initiative in November 2000 with the aim of monitoring the progress made towards the Declaration’s targets. In 2006, the industry committed itself to meeting a voluntary recycling rate goal of 66% by 2010 in the EU-27 plus Switzerland and Norway.