Recovered fibre refers to any fibre that is recycled, that is to say, used more than once in the manufacture of a paper or board product. Recycling has become a high-profile issue in most industrialized countries over the past 10 to 30 years, and this is reflected in the high levels of wastepaper recovery that these countries report.

In the recycling process, there are usually many unknowns, including the fibre species, the number of times that the fibre has been recycled, and the pulping method used in fibre production. Traditionally, the impact of recycling has been examined through measuring the quality of the paper produced after a controlled series of pulping, digesting, and recovery. The fibre quality, in terms of strength, flexibility, and bond-ability, can also be measured. While the individual results of such testing vary greatly, the overall trends are fairly consistent.

The main factor affecting the recyclability of paper is the pulping method used. It has been shown that high-yield pulps, such as chemi-thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP) and thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP), respond better to recycling due to their ability to reabsorb water after being dried in paper. Lower-yield chemical pulps, such as soda or kraft, tend to become more brittle and therefore less flexible as the number of recycles increase. This greatly reduces the recyclability of some of these pulps.

For all pulps, the first recycle causes the greatest change in any paper or fibre property. Most paper properties tend to decline, although some measurements, such as tear, may show temporary increases. Declines in paper properties seem to arise from the reduction of fibre bonding ability. This reduction may be due to hornification, a stiffening and/or hardening of the fibre, which in turn causes a drop in the number and strength of inter fibre bonds. The intrinsic strength of the fibre may also decrease, although some researchers have reported no change or even increases in individual fibre strength properties. In most cases, however, changes in paper and fibre properties tended to level out after four or five recycles, implying that the most degradation takes place in the first few cycles.

It may be inferred that four or five recycles is the uppermost limit that can be achieved in fibre recycling. Recovered fibres do not last forever. It is also important to note that wastepaper, like any other fibre source, does not provide a 100 percent yield in the papermaking process. In fact, the yield on recovered fibres is about 80 percent.

There are three categories of paper that can be used as feed stocks for making recycled paper: mill broke, pre-consumer waste, and post-consumer waste. Broke is paper trimmings and other paper scrap from the manufacture of paper, and is recycled internally in a paper mill. Pre-consumer waste is material which left the paper mill but was discarded before it was ready for consumer use. Post-consumer waste is material discarded after consumer use, such as old corrugated containers (OCC), old magazines, and newspapers.

waste paper bale

Visit Waste Paper Grades for various grades of waste papers

Europe Recovered Paper Grades
US Recovered Paper Grades
South African Standard Grade Definition for Recovered Paper

Top 5 Recovered Paper Producing/Collection Countries (Million Metric Ton in 2017)

Countries	Million MT
	Production	Imports	Exports	Net Consumption
World	235.3	58.2	57.0	236.5
China	52.9	25.7	0	78.6
USA	47.6	0.90	18.3	30.2
Japan	21.1	0.05	3.7	17.4
Germany	15.3	4.5	2.8	17.0
Korea Republic (South)	9.1	1.5	0.60	10.0

Top 5 Recovered Paper Importing Countries (Million Metric Ton in 2017)

Countries	Million MT
	Production	Imports	Exports	Net Consumption
World	235.3	58.2	57.0	236.5
China	52.9	25.7	0.0	78.6
Germany	15.3	4.5	2.84	17.0
India	3.7	3.3	0.0	7.0
Netherland	2.5	2.90	2.7	2.63
Indonesia	3.2	2.20	0.10	5.33

Top 5 Recovered Paper Exporting Countries (Million Metric Ton in 2017)

Countries	Million MT
	Production	Imports	Exports	Net Consumption
World	235.3	58.2	57.5	236.5
USA	47.7	0.90	18.3	30.2
UK	7.8	0.11	4.7	3.1
Japan	21.1	0.046	3.7	17.4
France	7.3	0.99	2.9	5.4
Germany	15.3	4.54	2.8	17.0

Top 5 Recovered Paper Consuming Countries (Million Metric Ton in 2017)

Countries	Million MT
	Production	Imports	Exports	Net Consumption
World	235.3	58.2	57.0	236.5
China	52.9	5.7	0.0	78.6
USA	47.6	0.90	18.3	30.2
Japan	21.1	0.046	3.7	17.4
Germany	15.3	4.54	2.84	17.0
Korea (South)	9.14	1.46	0.58	10.0

Status of Paper Recycling in USA

Paper & Paperboard Recovery (Source ISRI )

Recovered fiber, also known as recovered paper and board, is one of the most widely recycled materials in the world. Since 1990, Americans have recycled nearly 1.1 billion tons of recovered fiber as the recovery rate for paper and paperboard in the United States increased by 30 percent to reach 65.4 percent in 2014. The paper recycling segment of the scrap recycling industry collects, sorts, and processes the recovered fiber into specification grade products that were valued at $7.8 billion in 2014. These products are sold and transported to paper mills at home and worldwide for production into new packaging, office paper, tissue, newsprint, and a multitude of other paper products.

In the United States, approximately 76 percent of paper mills rely on recovered fiber to make some or all of their products due in part to recovered paper's significant cost and energy savings. In addition, the paper and fiber recovered in the United States helps to meet growing overseas demand: recovered paper was exported to more than 85 different countries last year at a value of approximately $3.2 billion, not including the tremendous environmental benefits and energy savings, while significantly helping our balance of trade.

The US recovered 52.0 Million Ton of paper in 2015 and this accounts for 66.8% of paper consumed in US. It is approximately 315 lbs per person in US.

	Supply (000 tons)	Recovered (000 tons)	Recovery Rate
1990	86,796	29,112	33.5%
1991	85,071	31,201	36.7%
1992	88,273	33,954	38.5%
1993	91,538	35,460	38.7%
1994	95,718	39,691	41.5%
1995	95,971	42,189	44.0%
1996	94,529	43,076	45.6%
1997	99,557	43,989	44.2%
1998	101,183	45,077	44.6%
1999	105,316	46,818	44.5%
2000	102,810	47,311	46.0%
2001	97,395	46,996	48.3%
2002	98,949	47,645	48.2%
2003	98,018	49,255	50.3%
2004	101,884	50,187	49.3%
2005	99,613	51,272	51.5%
2006	100,665	53,314	53.0%
2007	97,007	54,325	56.0%
2008	89,838	51,822	57.7%
2009	78,711	50,036	63.6%
2010	81,784	51,545	63.0%
2011	78,959	52,767	66.4%
2012	78,619	51,092	65.0%
2013	78,761	50,128	63.6%
2014	78,206	51,171	65.4%
2015	77,895	52,040	66.8%

21.2 million tons of recovered paper was exported to 85 countries including Canada, China, India, South Korea and Mexico in 2014:

• 2.4 million tons of printed news
• 9.7 million tons of corrugated cardboard
• 4.6 million tons of mixed paper
. 0.8 million tons of high-grade paper
• 2.3 million tons of other mechanical paper
• 1.2 million tons of pulp substitutes.

91% of corrugated container and 70% of newspapers consumed were recovered in 2012.

About 36% of the fiber used to make paper products comes from recycled paper.

Corrugated Recovery Hits 91 Percent,

Maintains Top Position As Most-Recycled Packaging Material

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 6, 2013) In 2012, 91 percent (29 million tons) of the corrugated packaging used in the U.S. was successfully recovered for recycling, maintaining its top position as the most-recycled packaging material.

Recovery for recycling has increased steadily since 1993, when 54.5 percent of old corrugated containers (OCC) was recycled. Recovery is also helped by the widespread access to community paper and paper-based packaging recycling programs. According to the American Forest & Paper Association’s Community Survey, 87 percent (268 million) of the U.S. population have access to curb side or drop-off recycling programs.

Most OCC is used to make new paper products. Of the 91 percent of corrugated that was recovered in 2012, more than 50 percent was used to make new containerboard. An additional 12 percent was used to make recycled paperboard and more than 34 percent was exported.

Where OCC Goes 000 tons %

Containerboard 14,588 50.1

Recycled Paperboard 3,510 12.0

Packaging & Industrial 484 1.7

Tissue 224 0.9

Newsprint 0 0

Other 251 0.9

Net Exports 10,007 34.6

Total 29,134 100

Source: AF&PA

Making strides in newspaper recycling

In the past two decades, NAA’s member newspapers have voluntarily committed to using recycled-content newsprint. Consider these facts:

In 1989, 35 percent of all old newspapers were recycled. Today, more than 72 percent of all old newspapers in the United States are recovered and recycled. That exemplary recovery rate dramatically helps reduce the impact on forests, dependency on imported oil and the need for more landfills.

The average amount of recycled-fiber content in newsprint used by U.S. newspapers has increased from 10 percent in 1989 to almost 30 percent today.

A typical newspaper can be recycled up to seven times. Because the de-inking process can wear out the material, there is a limit to how many times recovered fibers can be recycled.

Not only are old newspapers used to produce recycled newsprint, they also are recycled into other products: cellulose insulation materials, cereal boxes, egg cartons, grocery bags, pencil barrels, tissue paper and more. In many cases, manufacturing of these products is more economical and environmentally friendly than shipping old newspapers to distant mills for recycling.

While newspapers continue to demand recycled-content newsprint, the overall supply of newsprint has declined. Over the last decade, some recycled-content newsprint mills have closed while others have shifted from producing newsprint to producing higher grades of paper. Newsprint manufacturers also have a harder time obtaining quality recovered fiber because of increased demand for fiber from export markets.

Making a difference in newspaper production

While all newspapers must comply with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, newspapers represented by NAA have made substantial investments to improve operational efficiency and to reduce their impact on the environment:

Since the late 1980s, newspapers have been using soy-based color ink and water-based inks that emit less volatile organic compounds. The EPA considers VOCs to be a contributor to air pollution because they lead to the formation of ozone in the atmosphere - a component of smog.

A number of newspapers have converted from 48-inch to 46-, 44- or 42-inch web widths to reduce the amount of newsprint consumed.

Newspapers are using lighter-weight newsprint, which also reduces consumption.

Newspapers are moving from wooden pallets to plastic, reusable skids.

Source NAA

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