Model Treatment of the Paper-Recycling System: Part 1

A generic process network model called International Database for Ecoprofile Analysis (IDEA) developed at IIASA was used to establish the inventory, employing the unit process database for generating production structures and for the inventory calculations starting from a given final product demand. The unit process database contains the data of the inputs and outputs of the individual processes and the data for the production and the post-processing profiles. The database defines the production shares in the cases where there are two or more processes producing (post-processing) the same product. Substitution data for alternative products (namely, orientation profiles between recycling and waste management) and transportation profiles are also included.

Currently, the IDEA database contains approximately 400 unit processes and about 400 products. The data represent the state of the art in the late 1980s in production, transport, and so on. The unit processes describe either entirely or in part the following 11 economic sectors:

1. Fuel, minerals, and mining
2. Energy conversion
3. Goods transportation
4. Inorganic chemicals production
5. Organic chemicals production
6. Glass production
7. Pulp and paper production
8. Aluminum production
9. Iron and steel production
10. Beverage container manufacture
11. Waste management and recycling

For this fesibility study on paper recycling in Western Europe the IDEA database was supplemented with data on the specific area of paper recycling. However, these data, comprising transportation and processing waste paper for reuse, are preliminary and are intended to be expanded and verified in a planned full-scale study on paper recycling.