Data show an increase to 52.2 percent of paper and board made from recycled content worldwide in 2020, but U.S. recovered paper production and exports declined.

The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) recently released its “Paper and Board Recycling in 2020: Overview of world statistics” report, noting that 2020 was “a year that will live long in the global memory for one specific reason: the COVID[-19] pandemic.” But the report indicates cause for optimism when it comes to the role of recovered paper in paper and board production, revealing that more than half of all paper and board produced globally contained recycled content.

According to the study, BIR Paper Division officials conclude 52.2 percent of the world’s paper and board contained recovered fiber, an increase from 51.2 percent in 2019 and 50.3 percent in 2018.

The report shows global production of recovered fiber fell from nearly 244 million metric tons in 2019 to just below 240 million metric tons in 2020. Asia accounted for 43.8 percent of global recovered paper production, ahead of Europe at 27 percent and the United States and Canada at just under 20 percent.

“It should be remembered that global paper and board production was already on a downtrend even before the pandemic emerged,” BIR Paper Division President Francisco Donoso says in the report. “The growth seen in the packaging and tissue segments was being more than outweighed by the inexorable decline in demand for newsprint and writing.”

He adds, “The one message standing out above all others is that, even during a global pandemic, the recovered paper industry continued to play its essential role in supplying the world paper and board industry with specification raw material.”

Global paper and board production fell approximately 14 million metric tons in 2020 to fewer than 399 million metric tons total, and the report shows the U.S./Canada and Oceania regions with the steepest year-on-year decline, down 4.4 percent to 46.6 million metric tons and 6 percent to 3.1 million metric tons, respectively.

The report indicates the downward trend also was reflected in numbers from Asia, which produced 104.9 million metric tons of recovered paper in 2020, down 0.8 percent from 2019, while significant year-on-year increases were recorded in the Middle East (up 7 percent t0 3.7 million metric tons) and Africa (up 4.4 percent to 3.4 million metric tons).

Fiber is not necessarily recovered where it is most needed, the BIR says, and as such, international trade has long been essential to the worldwide usage of paper for recycling, adding that “structural surpluses in one part of the world can be used to feed production processes elsewhere—in develop countries, for example, where recovery/production rates are currently insufficient to meet often rapidly increasing local and regional demand.”

The U.S. saw a steep decline in exports to several countries, including to China, which decreased 16.6 percent to 4.5 million metric tons in 2020. U.S. recovered paper exports to other destinations also decreased:

U.S. recovered paper exports increased to several countries, however:

Europe has established itself as a major exporter of recovered paper because of a material surplus thanks to a collection rate of more than 70 percent. The report shows the United Kingdom led the way in recovered paper exports with 3.8 million metric tons, down from 4.3 million metric tons in 2019. Other European countries to export seven-figure tonnages in 2020 were:

Of those nations, Poland was the only country to increase its recovered paper exports in 2020, up from 1 million metric tons the previous year, while Germany was Europe’s top importer of recovered paper in 2020 at nearly 4.6 million metric tons.

The U.S. imported 0.3 million metric tons of recovered paper from Europe in 2020, down from 0.5 million metric tons in 2019.

The report shows U.S. and Canada remained the leading pulp producer in 2020 with 57.7 million metric tons, but that number reflects a 5.1 percent decrease from 60.8 million metric tons in 2019.

Worldwide consumption of pulp was down to 170 million metric tons in 2020 compared with 183 million metric tons the previous year, with the United States consuming 48.3 million metric tons (down from 51 million metric tons in 2019).

The BIR says global production of paper and board had been on a downward trend even before the significant market shifts brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, but that 2020 saw a much steeper decline. The organization does say, however, there were increases in global packaging and tissue production, but those numbers were offset by substantial declines in newsprint production, which fell 23 percent, as well as printing and writing paper production, which saw a more than 14-percent decrease.

Tissue production increases were across the board, with the U.S. increasing 6.4 percent to 9.7 million metric tons as well as a 1.8 percent increase in packaging production to 52.2 million metric tons. But newsprint production losses in the United States were substantial, falling 26.7 percent to 2.5 million metric tons, and printing and writing paper production down 19.9 percent to 10.4 million metric tons.

The report concludes, “Data contained in this third edition illustrate the importance of recovered [fiber] in the production of paper and board around the world, particularly in the growing packaging segment,” with the BIR adding that the significance in the global production mix intensified in 2020 with the proportion of recovered paper used in packaging increasing from 86 percent in 2019 to 87 percent in 2020.

“The paper recycling industry enshrines the principles of a circular economy given that we are clearly heading in the direction of a world in which recycling content will become an ever-increasing component of the final paper and board product mix,” the study says. “To ensure that recovered [fiber] achieves its full consumption potential, international free trade in this vital raw material must be safeguarded.”

The initiative and pilot project aims to increase the country’s recycling rates and provide income to waste pickers.

Brazil-based Circular Action Hub has partnered with Switzerland-based Tetra Pak and Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) to develop a carton recycling initiative and pilot project in Vietnam to try to increase recycling rates and provide income to waste pickers in the country.

According to a news release from Circular Action, the pilot project will take place in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City until March 2023. Through the pilot project, recycling activities will be run with the cooperation of beverage and food manufacturers involved in the PRO Vietnam alliance while carton collection will be managed and monitored through Circular Action’s KOLEKT app.

Circular Action says this project follows on a feasibility study BVRio conducted for Tetra Pak in 2020 that evaluated strategies for the collection and recycling of used beverage cartons in Vietnam and India. That study found that informal waste pickers are crucial to carton collection programs. With the KOLEKT app, developed with waste pickers in Indonesia, Circular Action designed the Circular Action Program (CAP) to manage the recovery and recycling of 3,000 metric tons of used beverage cartons in Ho Chi Minh City.

CAP is a customized service based on engaging all actors in the waste supply chain and providing incentives for collection, sorting and recycling of all materials. According to Circular Action, the system is managed using supply chain traceability and monitoring tools—the KOLEKT app and reporting platforms—for the program to register all who are participating in the waste management supply chains to enable traceability.

Circular Action says the program will start by paying larger waste collection centers an incentive fee for all Tetra Pak cartons sold to Dong Tien Paper to be recycled into brown paper, chipboard or corrugated roofing. Large collection centers or waste aggregators receiving a performance-based payment per kilogram sold will pass on this bonus to waste pickers in order to secure the supply.

Additionally, to deliver social and environmental benefits, PRO Vietnam is providing incentives to aggregators and recyclers to process the cartons collected through the program, which is a benefit passed onto waste pickers through the higher prices paid for collected materials.

“We appreciate the initiative, the model and the effectiveness of the collection for recycling of used beverage carton projects from Tetra Pak, one of our core members,” says Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, chairman of PRO Vietnam.

The project is being overseen by John Murphy, project manager for the Circular Action team in Vietnam, as well as Circular Action Director Thierry Sanders.

“This project has the potential to be transformational for all involved,” Sanders says. “This project brings a triple-dividend of firstly preventing waste going to landfills or nature; then it increases the incomes of waste pickers and finally creates cooperation throughout the supply chain. Tetra Pak is the perfect partner willing to pilot this innovative way of working, involving mobile technology. PRO Vietnam now has the method to grow waste collection across Vietnam for the decades to come.” 

The U.K.-based packaging company will use its laboratory to test the recyclability of its packaging, including nonpaper components such as coatings.

Mondi, a global leader in packaging and paper headquartered in the United Kingdom, has opened its first recycling laboratory at its Frantschach mill in Austria.

According to a news release from Mondi, the new recycling laboratory will test the recyclability of paper and paper-based packaging components using nonpaper components such as coatings. While paper packaging offers sustainability benefits, Mondi says it has some barrier functionality limits for products such as perishable food. To enhance functionality, nonpaper components such as barrier coatings can be added, which in turn can impact recyclability.

Mondi says recycling tests in-house speed the process for developing sustainable packaging. Data collected in Mondi’s laboratory can be used to improve the company’s existing products and provide information about their environmental impact. Mondi also plans to use the results from its laboratory to determine how the design of new packaging can be improved, as well as how to improve the circularity of material flows.

Mondi’s new recycling laboratory will conduct tests on various paper and paper-based packaging products it develops and will determine whether the packaging can be efficiently recycled. The company says its laboratory will work in a similar way to industrial recycling facilities but on a smaller scale. Results generated from the laboratory will provide the company with evidence as to whether material can be recycled.

“The ability to provide our customers with information on the recyclability of our products will be a key enabler in our efforts to develop more sustainable solutions and enhance our value proposition for customers,” says Elisabeth Schwaiger, head of R&D and IP Flexible Packaging at Mondi. “Currently, 78 percent of Mondi’s groupwide portfolio is already either reusable, recyclable or compostable. This recycling lab enables us to move closer to our MAP2030 goals of making 100 percent of our products fulfill these requirements by 2025.”

The Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition presented a grant to Gilford, New Hampshire, to help its Gilford Solid Waste Center.

Town of Gilford, New Hampshire, has received a $50,000 grant from the Falls Church, Virginia-based Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition to add a Foam Cycle system to its solid waste center. The Gilford Solid Waste Center (GSWC) is a source-separated facility.

The Gilford Department of Public Works learned about an initiative from the New Hampshire Plastics Work Group and several district governors of Rotary clubs to create a hub-and-spoke system throughout New England to collect and recycle polystyrene (PS). The Gilford Foam Recycling Center will have an expanded service region to northern New England. There are about 125 communities and 530,000 residents within 50 miles of the location.

“The GSWC is frequently asked by residents if foam can be recycled,” says Meghan Theriault, public works director for the Town of Gilford. “We are proud to become the first hub in the state to collect and densify foam for recycling, helping to divert the material from landfills, save money on trash disposal costs and potentially generate revenue for the community.”

According to a news release from the Foam Recycling Coalition, the coalition’s $50,000 funding will assist GSWC with the purchase and installation of a PS foam recycling system, including a foam densifier, at the GSWC location. GSWC will accept loose PS foam, both rigid and food packaging, on-site during normal business hours. Rotary clubs also are planning to work together to create numerous spoke locations for foam to be dropped off or collected at organized events. The Foam Recycling Coalition reports that these clubs will handle the logistics of delivering the collected foam to a hub location, such as Town of Gilford, where it will be densified into ingots to be sold to end markets for manufacturing new products.

“The Town of Gilford is a great example of a leading community listening to residents and working with surrounding communities to create a solution for recycling foam,” says Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, which oversees the Foam Recycling Coalition. “By Gilford taking the first step, we hope to see other communities throughout New England get inspired and join their efforts as either a hub or spoke to divert polystyrene foam from landfills and into new products.”

The grant is made possible through contributions to the Foam Recycling Coalition, which focuses exclusively on increased recycling of postconsumer foam polystyrene. Its members include Americas Styrenics; CKF Inc.; Chick-fil-A; Dart Container Corp.; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; Ineos Styrolution America LLC; Pactiv Evergreen; and Republic Plastics.

The Town of Gilford is the 24th grant recipient to receive this funding since 2015. According to the Foam Recycling Coalition, more than 6 million residents in the U.S. and Canada are as a result of these grants.

The company says the added capacity makes the Clyde, Ohio, site one of the largest rPET facilities in the world.

Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) producer Evergreen has confirmed to Recycling Today it has ordered two additional extrusion lines for its facility in Clyde, Ohio.

The completion of production expansion at its Clyde facility in July made Evergreen one of the three largest producers of rPET in North America, with 217 million pounds of annual capacity, but CEO Omar Abuaita says the addition of the two extrusion lines will make the Clyde site the largest rPET facility in the world.

“Out of the two additional lines, one is already on order and we’re working on the sixth line,” Abuaita says.

Prior the to addition, the Clyde facility had an annual capacity of 113 million pounds of food-grade rPET. The two lines add an additional 27 million to 30 million pounds of capacity each, giving the site an annual capacity of up to 173 million pounds.

Abuaita says customers have been eager for the company to up its production capacity even after the $22 million Clyde upgrade, but Evergreen held off until it could secure enough supply to justify the expansion.

“Our customers would love for us to double our footprint and double our throughput,” he says. “We’d love to do that as well, and we’re willing and able, but until we have security of supply, we don’t do that. That’s not our style.”

He adds, “The reason for that is, the way we go about it is we don’t promise customers supply we cannot fulfill and we wait until we secure the raw material. Once we have security of supply of raw material, we are more than able and willing to write a check for another line or another greenfield facility.”

The Clyde expansion began in 2021 and included a 54,000-square-foot addition that can process 11.8 billion PET bottles annually. The investment included $5 million under the American Beverage Association’s Every Bottle Back initiative in partnership with the Ohio Beverage Association and New York-based Closed Loop Partners.

Last year, Evergreen added facilities in Albany, New York; Amherst, Nova Scotia; and Riverside, California.

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The company also has confirmed it has been certified by the Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) Certification Program in which member organizations are determined to adequately and ethically collect OBP, that the material is well-managed once collected, commercially recyclable OBP is traceable until the final recycled product and noncommercially recyclable OBP is correctly handed and corresponding plastic credits are thoroughly verified and traceable.

Evergreen joins other U.S. companies Ocean Recovery Group LLC, Oceanworks and Return Textiles LLC as certified OBP recycling organizations.

Read more about Evergreen’s expansion at its Clyde facility in the fall edition of Plastics Recycling.