The main inconvenience of paper recycling lies in the fact that it does not allow a 1:1 substitution ratio since
recycled waste paper and virgin paper do not have the same quality and functionality. The recycling process
shortens the fibres, so that the maximum number of recycling cycles is usually around 6 or 7. As a result, to
ensure a sufficient fibre length, a certain amount of virgin paper needs to be added to paper recycled products,
often about 20% (Villanueva & Wenzel, 2007). Future progress in recycling technologies may increase the
number of times fibres can be recovered.
In order to optimise the environmental benefits of paper recycling, a possible future option could be to develop a
recycling process that includes material recovery. For instance, the paper could be recycled and then the sludge
resulting from the recycling process and the fibres not suitable for reuse could be used for energy generation.
The performance of recycling is also influenced by the quality of the collected material, which depends on the
way the paper waste is collected, i.e. either mixed with other materials or separately.
The paper and card market
In Europe, in 2007 119 million tonnes of wood were used to generate 45 million tonnes of paper and board. 58.6
million tonnes of recovered paper and board were also used to generate approximately 49 million tonnes of paper
and board (CEPI, 2008). Therefore it could be said that without paper recycling, the demand for wood would be
much higher which could contribute to deforestation in the case of wood that comes from unsustainable forests.
This is quite likely to be the case, as of the 3 952 million hectares of forests in the world (FAO, 2005) only 342
million hectares, i.e. about 9%, are certified sustainably managed through the PEFC (Programme for the
Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) schemes (FAO, 2005; PEFC,
2009; FSC, 2009). However, it is important to notice that usually wood is not usually harvested for the sole
purpose of producing paper and cardboard, especially in Europe. For example, in CEPI countries, the wood used
for paper and cardboard production is mainly a mix of round wood (75%) and chips (25%). Furthermore,
according to the Ullmann’s encyclopaedia (Patt et al., 2002), the European paper mills use mainly wood residues:
‘In Europe sawmill residues and wood from thinning of forests are used in the production of wood pulp. In
countries with good growth conditions, wood for pulp production is predominantly cultivated on plantation’.
Deforestation is instead linked with the need for extra agricultural land. Therefore the link between paper recycling
and forest use is not straightforward.
Another issue linked to the paper and card market is that both virgin and recycled paper and card are
internationally traded commodities. As in several European countries, many UK paper mills manufacturing virgin
paper have closed down with the supply replaced by imports from Scandinavia. Half of the paper and card
recovered for recycling is processed in the UK. As mentioned previously, half of the recovered paper is exported
(see Figure 47) mostly to China and other East Asian countries where the demand is growing as in other East
Asian countries (WRAP, 2007 (a)).
One can thus raise some concern around the environmental impacts of transportation but these are not expected
to be significant as long as the paper and card waste is shipped to the recycling destination. It is more the energy
mix used for the recycling operations, and the nature of the virgin production being avoided, that is likely to
cause adverse environmental effects if the energy is obtained from fossil fuels. This is also true of the paper and
card waste that is recycled in the UK. Here, the issue is that UK electricity is derived from mainly fossil sources,
whereas virgin paper imported from Scandinavia is manufactured using renewable energy.
Under this assumption, incineration can appear to be preferable over recycling. However, such results are based
on the assumption that the paper being used is sustainably sourced and that biogenic carbon is in equilibrium.
Another aspect that hinders the development of recycling facilities in the UK is that the potential for domestic use
of recycled products is not expected to rise in future years (WRAP, 2007 (a)). It seems that the future trend will
therefore be an increase in exports of collected paper and card to developing countries. The challenge in the UK
may thus be more on the collection side than on the recycling process side than on the collection side. The key is
to adjust the collection schemes to meet the needs of domestic and export markets in terms of paper quality.
Another possible area for development could be in open loop recycling, e.g. the manufacture of moulded paper
pulp products and insulation material which are currently believed to consume only around 1% of the paper
recovered in the UK (WRAP, 2007 (a)). Paper pulp products could be used on a larger scale as packaging material
for instance.