Problems of Paper Recycling in Western Europe: Part 3

A general problem with paper recycling in Western Europe is that pulp and paper production and consumption sites are geographically separated. Scandinavian countries are major producers but only minor consumers. Consequently, the question of availability and logistics of waste paper recycling enters the equation.

The imbalance of production and consumption in Scandinavian is evident for all paper and board qualities, except for household and sanitary papers typically produced for local markets because of relatively high transportation costs per product volume. The Central European production – consumption balance is negative. Because of the large total volumes of production and consumption the differences are relatively small for all qualities except newsprint.

In 1986 Sweden and Finland together had a 9.4-million-tonne positive trade balance (production minus own consumption) in paper and board products, while Central Europe (Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and Austria) had a 6-million-tonne negative trade balance. The total trade balance for Scandinavia and Central Europe was +3.4 million tones, representing about 10% of total production. The most significant export areas were the USA and Asia (collectively 2.6 million tones, OECD, 1989).