Recycling at 71.7%. Europe is becoming “greener”

According to the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) the paper recycling rate in 13 European countries reached 71.7 percent in 2013. During last year the total amount of collected and recycled paper waste remained stable at just over 57 million tonnes, despite decreasing paper consumption. Recycling has increased by 45 percent (18 million tonnes) since 1998, the base year for the first voluntary commitment set in the European Declaration on Paper Recycling by the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC). Still keeping such high rate is becoming progressively more challenging, mainly due to decline in newspaper consumption. As newspapers are traditionally one of the best recycled paper products along with corrugated boxes, this decrease will significantly affect overall paper recycling levels. Conversely, tissue and sanitary paper consumption is increasing but cannot be accepted for recycling due to hygiene reasons. Currently over 21 percent of paper consumption is not recyclable or collectable. The rest 11 European countries have already exceeded the level of 60 percent and are still growing. Because of that paper fibre is now recycled an average of 3.5 times in Europe , far exceeding the world - wide average of 2.4. “Making recycling easy and simple year after year requires a huge effort by the paper value  chain, and we are pleased to report the positive results ”, says ERPC chairwoman Beatrice Klose.