Sustainability of paper production and use
Paper is a material that is used for a wide variety of purposes and it is used extensively. It is difficult to imagine daily life without it. The primary raw material for paper is wood, i.e. renewable biomass.
Paper is also very easily recyclable and in Germany it is recycled to a high degree. Nonetheless, the sustainability of paper is also considered critically.
Working on behalf of the association of German paper mills, ("Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken e. V."), bifa Umweltinstitut undertook a study to reveal the current facts about the sustainability of paper in Germany. The study focussed on the topics of life-cycle assessment, energy consumption, the origin of the wood used, and recycling. Our cooperation partner was the PTS ("Papiertechnische Stiftung").
Life-cycle assessment is the method of choice for disclosing environmental impacts. Only a few life-cycle assessments are available for paper products, which analyse different environmental impacts. Several studies concentrate solely on the environmental impact of the greenhouse gas effect. Energy consumption in the paper mills makes a decisive contribution to this. In the case of products made from pulp, the raw materials fraction also stands out. The total final energy consumption per tonne of paper has been reduced over the years; by 43 % in Germany since 1980. A significant hurdle to be overcome in order to achieve a further reduction is the paper drying process.
The primary pulps imported to Germany mainly come from Brazil, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Uruguay, Spain and Chile. With the exception of Brazil and Portugal, forest stocks in these countries have increased by expanding managed forests. That German consumption of pulp and paper makes a substantial contribution to the degradation of forests: could not be substantiated overall, the sources indicate that the worldwide clearing or conversion of natural forests – which must be viewed very critically – is mainly undertaken for purposes other than that of paper production.
The German paper industry is a recycling pioneer: With a production volume in 2019 of 22.1 million tonnes, recovered paper utilization accounted for 17.2 million tonnes and primary pulp utilization for 5.2 million tonnes. Both the paper recovery rate and the recovered paper utilisation rate have increased over the years and both are currently at approx. 78 %. By way of comparison, the recovered paper utilisation rate in the 18 member countries of the Confederation of European Paper Industries, CEPI, is 72 %, the paper recovery rate is 53 %.
The recycling of waste paper makes a significant contribution to sustainable economy, as the raw material wood is used efficiently as a result. The limits of recycling do not lie in the progressive quality loss of the fibre material: wastepaper fibres can be reused significantly more times than the seven times frequently assumed. The fact that the limit of the paper recovery rate is an estimated 85 % is mainly due to processing reasons and the recyclability limits of certain paper products, e.g. sanitary papers, wallpapers or composite packaging.
bifa Text No. 70 "Sustainable paper cycle – a fact base" ("Nachhaltiger Papierkreislauf – eine Faktenbasis") can be ordered from mid-January from www.bifa.de.
You want more information?
You are welcome to contact me:
Dr. Wolfram Dietz
wdietz@bifa.de