The pulp and paper industry in Europe has undergone continuous growth over the last few years, which has increased the amount of Paper for Recycling (PfR) and the paper consumed to 59 million tonnes in 2015 (1). Demand for PfR in Asia has increased even more. Out of the 58 million tonnes collected, 10 million have been exported to Asia.
In this global context, the availability of European PfR as a raw material has forced the industry and the authorities to boost actions to ensure constant and sustainable procurement of PfR. All the PfR collected is currently recycled with the PfR collection rate equal to the PfR recycling rate except for those cases in which the quality of the collected materials does not meet industrial requirements (i.e. high wet content, presence of contaminants). These cases are also tackled in the IMPACTPapeRec Project. All this considered, current EU paper-recycling rate reached 71.5% in 2015 (1), as it is already mentioned. The project focuses on these countries with low and medium average paper recycling rates with the aim to increase their recycling performances.

European paper recycling rates 1991 – 2015
Despite the high collection and recycling ratio (almost 90%) (1) of paper and board from commerces and industry (applied in different industrial uses; i.e. corrugated boxes, office paper) thanks to the implementation of specific industrial PfR collection systems, there is still a broad margin to improve collection and recycling rates in terms of municipal PfR. Theoretically, 80% of household paper is recoverable (the remaining 20% is not recoverable due to its characteristics; i.e. toilet paper, wallpaper, tissue) (1). Moreover, policy trends establish a progressive increase in recovery percentages as well as prioritizing recycling and recovery, in this order, and avoiding elimination via landfill[3].
When EU paper and board collection and recycling rates are analysed (see figure above with representative countries of the northern, southern, eastern and central Europe), there is a notable gap between the different collection systems used in Europe. Depending on the regions considered, three different systems are employed: ① Door-to-Door- Separate collection of paper and board from other waste streams, ② Bring Bank sites- Separate paper and board from other waste streams, ③ Together with other recyclables like glass and plastic.
More recycling facts here.
[3] Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC
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