The paper and board production process, especially when carried out with paper for recycling as the raw material, leads to the generation of large amounts of side streams, mainly sludges, rejects and process water. The main two outlets for the European paper and board industry’s (PBI) solid side streams have historically been landfilling and incineration. Both of them entail significant costs for the sector, while landfilling has been recently facing also regulatory limitations in several countries. Reducing these costs, and even turning them into profits, depends on the ability of the sector to utilise the valuable components in the side streams by reusing them internally or converting them to intermediates or products for other parties.
This publication includes the work done in the framework of the EU-funded Reffibre project, as well as the 2011 CEPI Maximum value from paper for recycling: Towards a multi-product paper mill project report.