Problems of Paper Recycling in Western Europe: Part 2

At present, recycled fiber is widely utilized in Central European countries for corrugated board materials, liner boards, and fluting. Acceptable qualities are produced with an 85% to 90% recycled fiber furnish; the average utilization is about 70%. The use of recycled fiber has increased in folding boxboards and in sanitary and household papers, where even a 95% to 100% share of recycled fiber furnish has been attained in actual production.

Currently, the highest percentages of recycled fiber are often gained by means of selective waste paper collection of easy-to-use raw material for fiber recovery. Today, the grades utilized are mostly lightly printed or unprinted; no de-inking or separation of non-fibrous materials is necessary. It should be noted, however, that in Europe the resources of such materials are fairly limited. In the case of large-scale recycling of fibers, lower grades of waste paper having higher demands on utilities and materials, and higher emissions from processing, should also be included. When planning the collection and recycling of waste paper, it is also necessary to consider the different qualities of the paper; high-grade waste paper can be recirculated and used for producing lower-quality paper, but the reuse of low-grade waste paper is extremely limited. Also, paper cannot be recirculated without additional primary fibers because a certain quality degradation will occur at each reuse cycle. Therefore, separating waste paper into different qualities would facilitate the use of recycled fibers and here, for certain qualities, the best use would be to recover the energy content of the fibers.