Recycling and Waste Paper ::
[Previous :: Water and the Paper Industry]
Overview
The paper industry has recycled used paper and board for over 600 years. After using rags for centuries, wood became the main raw material source for papermaking in the 19th century. In recent decades, used paper has become an increasingly important raw material source and, compared to many other materials, is easy to recycle.
Environmentally, the pulp and paper industry's sustainability assets are numerous. It is based on truly renewable resources with recovered fibres now representing some 46.5% of the industry's raw materials in Europe.
[See: www.paperonline.org/enviro/level3/issues/issues_frame.html]
Waste paper, or recovered paper, is the most important raw material for the British paper and board industry. It represented 68% of the fibre used throughout this industry in 2004. As a result, the paper industry is the UK's most successful recycler.
[See: www.paper.org.uk]
The French Paper industry has also obtained the first place for recycling in France, with 49.1% of paper and cardboard it uses being recovered.
[See: www.copacel.fr/anglais.htm]
There are over 60 recognised grades of waste paper in Europe. It is the grade that determines how the waste paper can be used.
In almost any household waste paper can be recycled, including used newspapers, cardboard, packaging, stationery, 'direct mail', magazines, catalogues, greeting cards and wrapping paper. It is important that these papers are kept separate from other household waste, as contaminated papers are not acceptable for recycling.
Before paper can be recycled and transported to the mill, it needs to be collected, sorted, graded and baled. Recovered paper is generally sorted by Recovered Paper Merchants or waste management companies, e.g. Severnside in the UK.
Papermakers traditionally bought their raw material for recycling from Recovered Paper Merchants. These merchants may be mill-owned or they may be independent firms, which specialise in particular grades or operate in a particular geographical location. Some paper mills now deal direct with Local Authorities, e.g. Mole Valley in the UK.
[See: www.mole-valley.gov.uk]
More recently, waste management companies have found it economically advantageous to sort recovered paper for recycling and they now play an important market role.
Recovered paper
Most recovered paper comes from industrial and commercial sources because they are the easiest, cleanest and most economical to collect. However, with the implementation of European legislation and the growing demand for recycled paper products, additional sources need to be tapped.
The 60 grades of waste paper in Europe are categorised into five main groups.
Ordinary grades
These papers tend to contain a substantial amount of short fibres. Subcategories include mixed paper and board, grey board, mixed newspapers and magazines, corrugated paper and board, and sorted graphic paper for de-inking.
Medium grades
This category contains unsold newspapers free from inserts, printed white shavings, sorted office paper, coloured letters, white books, coloured magazines, as well as continuous computer print-out paper.
High grades
Predominantly white papers made from virgin fibres. Subcategories include mixed lightly coloured printer shavings, binders, letters, white business forms, white computer print-out, printed multi-ply board, white shavings and unbleached board.
Kraft grades
Generally come from brown unbleached packaging materials such as paper sacks and corrugated cases. Their long, strong fibres make them suitable for recycling into new packaging.
Special grades
This a hotchpotch of papers which tend to be uneconomic to sort and so are used in the middle layers of packaging papers and boards. This category includes mixed recovered paper and board, mixed packaging, wet-strength papers and labels.
Addition of virgin pulp
Although recycling makes economic and environmental sense, recovered paper cannot be used in all paper grades, nor can it be used indefinitely. Three criteria must be considered:
Strength
Every time a fibre is recycled it looses some of its strength and the fibre length decreases. After being re-used about six times the fibres become too short for papermaking;
Quality
Some grades make little or no use of recycled fibre because they need certain qualities provided only by new pulp. However, some recycled papers can have a high whiteness, a good smoothness, excellent run-ability, and be compatible with laser, inkjet and copier printing;
Utility
It is not possible to recover all paper, for example, cigarette paper is burnt.
The process in brief
- The paper is collected either by the Local Authority or by a Recovered Paper Merchant.
- The paper is then sorted, graded and delivered to a paper mill.
- Having reached the paper mill it is then 'slushed' into pulp and large contaminants removed. It is then filtered and screened through a number of cycles to make it more suitable for papermaking.
- It is now ready to be made into paper. Depending on the quality of paper being produced, quantities of virgin pulp from sustainable sources may be added. Some papers such as newsprint and corrugated materials can be made from 100% recycled paper.
- Once the paper is used, it can be recycled and the whole process starts again.
Figure 1 :: Fibre Recycling Process
[Source: www.recoverusa.com/images/fibnetrec.gif]
Industry example :: Severnside
On this site (www.severnside.com) is an extremely good slide show on the lifecycle of recycled paper.
As mentioned above there are now companies that specialise in waste management. One such company is Severnside in the UK, which advertises itself as having the experience and expertise to deal with all your paper and packaging waste. Severnside is a market leader in recovering and recycling waste packaging and together with their partners around the UK, recover annually 1.5 million tonnes of recyclable material.
It is worth noting that of the 6.5 million tones of paper and board that the UK manufactured in 1998, 4.7 million tones was raw material that was supplied by waste paper merchants. The movement towards the use of reclaimed fibre is predicted to continue, resulting in a falling requirement for virgin pulp. Of further note, the second largest import bill for the UK is imported paper and board
Inititaives
In order to help maximise the amounts of materials recovered, Severnside have, through their Mobile Compaction fleet, innovated a service that is dedicated to providing recycling services to a wide spectrum of business, no matter how large the amount of waste. With container sizes ranging from wheelie bins through to large walk-in containers and curtain side vehicles, they can provide a bespoke collection service to suit most businesses.
Figure 2 :: The different sizes of recycling container
Severnside have also taken the step and provided, where appropriate, a large and comprehensive selection of on site processing equipment for use on their customer's sites.
European Initiatives
As part of the European initiative to encourage recycling within the paper industry, it has launched the European Declaration on Paper Recovery.
The European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) was set up after the launch of The European Declaration on Paper Recovery in November 2000 with the aim to monitor the progress made towards meeting the targets set out in the European Declaration.
The ERPC consists of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA) and the European Federation of Corrugated Manufacturers (FEFCO) as its Signatories. In addition it also has supporters, which include the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD), the European Paper Merchants Association (EUGROPA) and the International Confederation for Printing and Allied Industries (INTERGRAF) as well as the European Commission Directorates General Enterprise and Environment, who act as Observers.
The websites:
Examples of the type of documents produced by this European initiative:-
- Summary of the Study on non-collectable and non-recyclable paper products
- CEPI and ERPA proposal to define recovered paper as secondary raw material, not waste
- Spotlight Discussion on Paper Collection and Recycling
[See also: www.paperrecovery.org/news]
|
1998 | 2003 | Growth 98/03 '000,000 t |
Growth 98/03 % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recovered paper utilisation (in '000,000 tonnes) |
37.6 | 43.7 | 6.1 | 16.3% |
| Recycling rate (in %) | 48.9 | 53.9 | +5.0 | |
| Paper & Board consumption (in '000,000 tonnes) |
77.0 | 81.2 | 4.3 | 5.5% |
If the results between 1998 and 2003 are compared, we find out that the amount of recovered paper destined to be recycled has increased by 6.1 million tonnes and by 16.3%. Paper and board consumption has increased by 5.5%. The recycling rate, in turn, has increased by 5.0 percentage points.
European example of individual government initiatives :: The United Kingdom
The Government in the UK has launched a number of initiatives as part of its Waste Strategy published in April 2000. Producers are now under increasing pressure to take responsibility for goods at the end of their lives. One area of impact on the paper industry concerns packaging.
Packaging
The Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulations of the UK set targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste at 59% (recovery) and 19% (material specific recycling);
[See also: WRAP www.wrap.org.uk]
Figure 4: Matthew Pinsent is promoting recycling in the UK
To help promote recycling and enable the UK Government Waste Strategy 2000 targets to be met, the Government has formed WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme. WRAP aims to boost the demand for recycled products and increase the use of recycled materials by working with manufacturers, retailers, researchers and local authorities. Matthew Pinsent, four times Olympic Champion and member of the successful 2012 London Olympic bid team, is the public face of a new campaign to encourage Britains to recycle more.
Recycling logos
To aid the public in its choice of recycled paper The National Association of Paper Merchants (NAPM) in the UK has produced the NAPM Recycled Paper Mark which states that paper must comprise at least 75% genuine recycled paper and board.
Figure 5: Throughout Europe, a recycling logo denotes that the product can be recycled after use
[Information sourced from: www.paper.org.uk]
Recycling vs Landfill
Landfill and incineration are both disposal options that are a sometimes necessary alternative to recycling. Some paper and other materials are incapable of being recycled. As a consequence landfill and incineration are sometimes required.
Figure 6: Paper to be recycled or dumped in landfill?
Trade body and legislation
CEPI
The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is a non-profit-making organisation, representing 19 member countries (17 European Union Member States plus Norway and Switzerland) and through its member countries, some 900 pulp, paper and board-producing companies across Europe, from small and medium-sized enterprises to multinationals.
CEPI represents the interests of the European pulp and paper industry to the European institutions such as the European Parliament. CEPI monitors and analyses EU legislation and initiatives in the fields of industrial, environmental, energy, forestry, recycling, and fiscal (tax) policies.
CEPI provides a forum for its members to exchange information and to act on emerging issues, to define common positions and to make expert and constructive contributions to the industry consultation process required by the European Treaties.
CEPI possesses a wide source of information on the pulp and paper industry in Europe, and, through its members, can provide information on the industry in individual Member States.
The CEPI website (www.cepi.org) gives links to its member country's national trade bodies where further information can be found.
See: www.cepi.org/content/showlinks.asp?Level0=554&Level1=604
1994 European Parliament Council Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
This obliges all Member States to develop a rigorous waste management policy. The main aims of the Directive were to reduce the impact of packaging on the environment and ensure the functioning of a single European market for packaging and packaging products.
The IPPC Directive (96/61/EC)
IPPC stands for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. In essence, the IPPC Directive is about minimising pollution from various sources throughout the European Union.
See also: europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l28135.htm
Figure 7: The Paper Cycle
[Source: www.copacel.fr]
