Recycling

Today 50% of the paper industry’s raw material comes from recovered paper and board. Paper is the most recycled product in Europe, and Europe is the global champion in paper recycling with a rate of 64.5%. The paper industry has been a driving force in achieving that rate and is part of a new industry initiative to push it even higher, to 66% by 2010. The potential exists to make this target a reality and bring us closer to the EU goal of a ‘recycling society’. But there is also a gap between industry’s view of recovered paper as a raw material and public policy, which views it as waste. If recycling is to continue to move forward, this needs to be addressed.

The current revision of European waste policies gives us an opportunity to advocate for a regulatory framework that enables more recycling of recovered paper and production residues; helps us to advance in the quality of recovered paper available; and removes unjustified red tape and related cost. At the same time CEPI is working on several fronts to achieve a better balance in policies that would favour the use of recovered paper as an energy source and result in the recycling market being distorted.

you can also visit the Recovered Paper Identification System website.

Jori Ringman-Beck, Recycling and Product Director
Ulrich Leberle, Raw Materials Manager
Sophy Ashmead, Assistant