Waste Paper

Waste paper is a valuable raw material. Paper products made using waste paper (recycled paper, paperboard, cardboard products) are much less of a burden on the environment than paper products made from new fibres.

For this reason the "Blue Angel" symbol introduced in Germany for products with low environmental impact is also awarded for recycling papers. Paper fibres can be recycled up to eight times to produce new paper.

In terms of quantity, the main paper sectors are:

• Products made from graphic papers, such as newspapers, other printed material and office papers (consumption more than 8 million tonnes per annum) and
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• Products made from packaging paper, such as sales packs, transport packaging or environmental packaging (consumption about 6,3 million tonnes per annum). In the field of graphics papers the relevant industries gave the Federal Environment Ministry an undertaking in 1994 that they would gradually raise the recycling of graphic paper to 60% in 2002. With this declaration the industry has discharged its product responsibility under the Waste Management and Product Recycling Act.

Since then the annual direct recycling quotas set out in the voluntary undertaking (60%) have been not only met, but considerably exceeded (2003: more than 80 %)

In order to reduce the flood of waste packaging, the Federal Government in 1991 enacted the "Packaging Ordinance", which introduced effective measures to ensure that producers and distributors assume responsibility for their products. There has been a reduction in consumption of packaging paper. The recycling rate for the entire paper packaging sector rose from nearly 56% in 1991 to about 89% in 2002. In the field of sales packs the minimum rates laid down in the Ordinance (see under Packaging) were exceeded.

The overall recycling quote of paper is about 65% in 2002.