Finns are good at recovering paper
67 % of the paper and paperboard consumed in Finland was recovered in 2010. This is an excellent achievement in a sparsely populated country with long distances that make the organising of recovery challenging.
However, recycled fibre only accounts for some five percent of the fibre raw material consumed by the paper and paperboard industry in Finland as over 90 per cent of the paper manufactured in Finland is exported, meaning that paper is for the most part recovered in Central Europe, the largest market area for the Finnish industry.
Importing recovered paper to Finland would not make economic or ecological sense because of the costs and emissions caused by transport over long distances.
The choice of raw material for paper – primary or recovered fibres – is largely determined by the availability of these fibres in each country. In countries with large forest resources and few people, paper is mostly made from primary fibres. In densely populated countries with ample supplies of recovered paper, paper manufacturing mostly relies on recycled fibres. The production of Finnish-owned mills in Central Europe is largely reliant on recovered fibres.
Recycled fibre unusable without the addition of primary fibre
About half of the paper consumed in Europe is manufactured from recycled fibres, which are primarily used to make packaging materials and paper for newspapers. The recycling rate for paper and paperboard is almost 70 per cent in Europe.
According to estimates, if the European paper industry were to rely on recycled fibres alone, paper manufacturing would end in a few short months, as it is impossible to use recycled fibres exclusively in the making of paper – some strong primary fibre is needed in the mix. Wood fibre can endure some four to six uses, after which its qualities, such as strength, begin to deteriorate.
All paper, such as cigarette paper, wallpaper, books and hygienic paper grades, cannot be recycled. These grades account for an estimated 19 per cent of total paper consumption.