Resource efficiency in practice

22 September 2014



CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, presents the commercial and ecological benefits of using pulp and paper-based packaging. Working towards a circular economy, the sector has reached a 70% recycling rate and aims to close the loop for the remaining potential.


We know that the world's growing population is putting increasing pressure on global resources and that mankind's current consumption patterns are simply not sustainable in the longer term. As the world's finite supply of fossil fuels diminishes, in direct contrast to the increasing demands of a larger population, we will need to move to a circular economy based on renewable resources and optimum efficiency.

In contrast to the linear model of take, make, dispose, a circular economy is a framework that takes insights from living systems. It considers that our systems should work like organisms, processing nutrients that can be fed back into the cycle, whether biological or technical, which is where phrases such as "closed loop" or "regenerative" come in.

It's also why we believe Europe's paper industry has a very bright future, because it is already a benchmark model of resource efficiency and a perfect fit for the circular economy. It is inherently sustainable by nature: based on renewable, recyclable raw materials, Europe's paper industry can produce second generation biofuels to replace crude oil as well as renewable bio-based products. It provides packaging solutions to avoid food waste and it uses residues from the woodworking industry as its raw materials. These are just a few examples: many more can be easily provided.

At the core of the bioeconomy

The European paper industry is at the core of the bio-based economy because everything it produces comes from forest fibres, a primary, renewable resource. It takes all the components in wood and transforms them into value-added bio-based products. And that doesn't just mean pulp and paper: Through the biorefinery concept, a paper mill is much more than the sum of its parts, making a vast range of innovative products. While wood fibre is used to make pulp, resins can be turned into chemicals and bark into renewable energy. Excess electricity is often sold to the grid or process steam pumped to heat nearby homes. By getting the most that it can from its production process based on renewable resources, Europe's paper industry provides the ideal path from a fossil-based to a bioeconomy.

Living the circular economy

Once a paper product has served its purpose, the industry recycles that paper to make something new, which makes a lot more sense than burning it or sending it to landfill as waste. Along the way, it creates additional products from the residues of the recycling process, adding value and innovation. Old paper cannot be recycled indefinitely - it needs an influx of new wood fibres to keep going, otherwise the fibres would not be strong enough to make new products. Those new fibres come from renewable, sustainably managed forests, continuing the loop.

Resource efficiency in practice

When it comes to raw materials, the forest products industry is blessed with a fundamental advantage compared with those who depend on finite resources.

Why? Because its basic raw material, wood, is renewable, recyclable and sustainable. That is because the wood comes from forests which are carefully managed to the highest standards, so they keep growing in area and volume while still delivering the wood the industry needs. Using non-renewable resources is like living off your savings. Using sustainably managed wood is like living off the interest.

The European paper industry is strongly committed to sustainable forest management and uses wood certified to PEFC and FSC standards to prove it.

In Europe, more trees are grown than harvested and, thanks to continuously improving standards of forest management, Europe's forests are growing bigger every day. In fact, they grew 512,000 hectares from 2005-2010 and are 30% larger than in the 1950s. To put it another way, European forests are increasing by 1.5 million football pitches every year, an area four times the size of London.

Some 90% of the wood used by the European paper industry comes from European forests. It is sorted carefully to make the best use of each particular grade. The wood comes partly from final fellings or from parts of the trees that are not used in the sawmilling industry, such as the tops and branches. Some wood arrives at the pulp mill in the form of residues from the woodworking industry.
It's all part of the principle of the cascading use of wood - a resource-efficient way of using our raw materials.

Recycling is a vital part of European paper production. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that the European paper industry is a champion in recycling. The paper industry has been recycling used paper and board for more than 700 years, turning used paper products into new ones. The used papers are collected from households, industry and commerce and their fibres are recycled by the paper industry several times to produce new high quality goods, fit for purpose, and not necessarily the same as before.

This is the perfect example of a circular economy, with the sector reaching a 70% recycling rate and aspiring to close the loop for the remaining potential, which today is not collected or exported outside Europe.

And because full recycling potential is actually around 78% rather than 100%, since some products cannot be collected or recycled, it makes that 70% quite an achievement. The industry also thrives on adding further value to the residues from the recycling process. And when recycled fibres can't be reused any more without an input of fresh fibres to give them strength, those new fibres are sourced from sustainably-managed forests, which are to a large extent certified in Europe.

Together with the organisations in the supply chain of paper for recycling, CEPI has proposed to revise the European standard for grades of paper for recycling EN 643. The new EN 643 now includes maximum tolerance levels for non-paper components such as metal cans and plastics bottles in deliveries of paper for recycling.

This way, non-paper material is sorted out earlier in the supply chain and not only at the paper mill. The resource efficiency benefits are more paper for recycling, less transport and less waste management for the paper mill, which saves resources and costs. At the same time, the sorted out non-paper material can be made available to other value chains using waste. ?

www.cepi.org

 



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