by MAURA KELLER
mkeller@americanrecycler.com
Paper recycling has long been a challenging segment of the recycling industry as consumer interest in recycling paper ebbs and flows, technologies evolve, production fluctuates and external issues, such as the recent pandemic, impacts the industry as a whole.
That said, Brian Hawkinson, executive director, Recovered Fiber at American Forest & Paper Association. (AF&PA), said paper recycling continues to be an environmental success story. As AF&PA’s 2022 recycling rate data – released in early August – shows, nearly 68 percent (67.9 percent) of paper used in the U.S. was recycled in 2022, holding approximately stable to the 2021 rate.
Paper recycling continues to be an environmental success story.
“Additionally, 93.6 percent of cardboard boxes were recycled in 2022, an increase over 2021 that raised the 3 year recycling rate average for old corrugated containers (OCC) to 91.3 percent,” Hawkinson said.
However, paper recycling through the first half of 2023 is lagging in its performance during the same period in 2022. As Hawkinson pointed out, recovered fiber consumption in the U.S. is down 7 percent through June compared to the same period in 2022.
“That mirrors a decline in total domestic paper and paperboard production, which is down 10 percent through June compared to the same period in 2022,” he said. “Still, more than twice as much paper is recycled as is sent to landfills every year, and the industry recycles nearly 70 percent more paper today than we did in 1990. In fact, more than two-thirds of the paper used in the U.S. – nearly 50 million tons – is recycled each year and used to make new sustainable paper products that people use every day.”
According to Brent Bell, vice president of recycling at WM, paper recycling has seen a lot of investments in North America over the last few years and the recycling industry is seeing more capacity come online with these new paper mills.
“While box demand is down overall, the industry is prepared for the economy to pick back up and the industry has invested to make new recycled boxes here in North America,” Bell said.
Of course, the pandemic also significantly impacted the paper recycling industry, hitting it hard as a lot of recycling programs were deferred due to the driver storage, as well as restrictions regarding building and business access. Office workers, for example, simply weren’t using (or recycling) vast amounts of paper as they had in the past.
However, as Bell pointed out, in 2021 through early 2022, there was an increase in box demand as working from home became the new norm.
“While we have seen prices increase slightly this year – box demand is down as the industry is seeing the “deboxing” impact from folks using current inventory,” Bell said.
Advancements & Challenges
While the paper recycling industry faced a myriad of issues during the pandemic, paper mills turned their attention to modifying their end products, which in turn affects the recycling industry.
As Hawkinson explained, the paper industry has seen broad improvements in processing technology. This has enabled paper mills to use a wider variety of recovered fiber in the manufacturing process, expanding the way for recycling systems to accept more materials in their recycling streams.
“A great example of this is poly-coated paper cups. More than one million residents of Chicago gained access to paper cup recycling this year, while cities like Memphis, Tennessee and communities across North and South Carolina also added paper cups to their acceptance lists for recyclable products,” Hawkinson said.
To help drive innovation even further, AF&PA developed the Design Guidance for Recyclability to help packaging manufacturers, designers and brands better understand how non-fiber elements, such as coatings and additives, impact the recyclability of paper-based packaging: This guidance can help to create and manufacture packaging that better meets recyclability goals. The organization has also seen AF&PA members make packaging products like paper padded mailers which can be recycled at paper mills throughout the country.
“More and more paper mills are using mixed paper as well as cardboard for feedstock, and when you look at a mixed paper bale – there is some strong fiber content in these bales today,” Bell said. “And as more boxes are being delivered through residential and multi-family homes, it’s important to keep the recycling rate for cardboard high. So, we want to make sure in the shift from retail/commercial to residential, that we don’t lose any boxes to the landfill. At WM, we encourage all of our residential programs to use 96-gallon carts and break down cardboard boxes to fit more material in the recycling bin.”
One challenge facing the paper recycling industry that Hawkinson noted is the “one-size-fits-all” extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies that have been adopted in several states, and are under consideration in several others. These present challenges to effective and efficient paper recycling.
“Rather than imposing fees on manufacturers of highly recycled materials like paper, EPR policies should be applied as a solution for hazardous, hard-to‐handle materials with low recycling rates,” Hawkinson said. “Ultimately, we are asking policymakers and influencers to focus on improving recycling for materials with low recovery rates instead of creating mandates and fees for paper producers that could direct capital away from investing in recycling infrastructure.”
For example, some states, like California, passed EPR legislation that creates an “off-ramp” for highly recycled materials like paper that will continue the market-based success of paper recycling while encouraging voluntary industry investment in recycling infrastructure.
“And while recycling rates can vary, the residential recovery rate for cardboard boxes is estimated to be approximately half the recovery rate from commercial and retail stores, making it critical that we continue to educate consumers on recycling best practices for cardboard boxes, so we can increase the quantity and Microplastics – small but dangerous recycling stream,” Hawkinson said. “When it comes to cardboard boxes, the process is simple: Empty your box. Break it down flat. And put it in your recycling bin for collection.”
On the Horizon
Paper recycling is consistently high and continues to be an environmental success story.
As the paper recycling industry continues to recover, Bell believes that paper will benefit from the concerns people have over plastic packaging. “Today, we are seeing some major retailers shift from plastic mailers to kraft or paper mailers that are more recycling friendly,” Bell said.
Hawkinson adds that the industry’s continued and voluntary investments are part of the reason why the paper recycling industry continues to be successful. “We have completed or announced nearly $7 billion in manufacturing investments, during 2019 to 2025, that will use more than 9 million tons of recovered fiber,” Hawkinson said. “Those investments have already paid dividends. In 2022, approximately 80 percent of U.S. paper mills use some recycled paper fiber to make renewable products like packaging, office paper, newspaper, toilet paper, napkins and paper towels.”
American Forest & Paper Association also continues working to meet its “Better Practices, Better Planet 2030” sustainability goals, which includes increasing the utilization of secondary materials, like recovered paper, to 50 percent by 2030 and increasing the percentage of products that are recyclable and compostable.
“To do this, we will continue to work with policy influencers to encourage them to support market-based solutions to improve existing paper and paper packaging recycling programs,” Hawkinson said. “Ultimately, we continue to strive to produce more sustainable paper products, increase the availability of and access to community recycling, and educate consumers about both the importance and ease of paper recycling.”