Recovered paper demand is expected to grow worldwide in the near-term future. According to data from Hannah Zhao, a senior economist at Fastmarkets RISI, headquartered in Boston, global recovered paper demand will rise gradually between now and 2025.

Currently, global recovered paper demand and usage is at just under 250 million metric tons per year. By 2025, that figure may be closer to 260 million metric tons per year based on Zhao’s forecast. This is a shift from 2018 to 2019, when world recovered paper demand declined because of the reduction in global paper and board production in China.

“There was a bit of a contraction in 2018 to 2019 because of China’s reduction in board and paper production, but going forward, this is going to rise,” said Megan Workman, price reporter and editor at Fastmarkets RISI, during the Paper Spotlight session at the ISRI2021 Convention & Exhibition, which took place online April 20-22 and April 27-29.

Demand for old corrugated containers (OCC) will rise most steeply compared with other recovered paper grades, driving that global increase, Workman said. From 2015 to 2020, all countries increased their imports of U.S. OCC, except for China, which decreased its OCC imports by 55 percent, she said.

Along with China’s ban on recovered paper imports, Workman said the market has seen a “shortening of the spread” in both double-lined kraft and OCC prices, as well as a shortening in the spread between No. 11 and No. 12 (double-sort) OCC since China drove demand on those grades. She added that “double-sorted is not going away. … It is in demand. It’s just that other countries didn’t pay up as much as China was, so that spread has tightened a bit.”

A main driver behind the boost in OCC demand is China’s need for brown recycled pulp.

“OCC is the main component in brown recycled pulp,” Workman said. “This brown recycled pulp is where China’s demand has gone. They banned the imports of recovered paper, but they haven’t banned or really set any specifications at all on this brown recycled pulp.”

With the new demand for brown recycled pulp emerging, she said Fastmarkets RISI just launched brown recycled pulp pricing in January. She said brown recycled pulp pricing was at $520 per ton CIF (cost, insurance and freight) to China in March. For comparison, brown recycled pulp prices were at $480 per ton in February, $450 per ton in January and $370 per ton in December 2020.

Fastmarkets RISI’s Zhao also forecast that recycled pulp demand from China will hit 5 million metric tons per year by 2025. In the session, Workman described that as “a huge jump from nil in 2017.”

The demand for brown recycled pulp has been one factor helping to boost pricing for U.S. OCC. Workman said the April prices for OCC are up compared with figures in April 2020, and the April 2020 figures were up from April 2019.

She added that mixed paper prices also are up significantly from one year ago, when prices were negative for that grade.

Another factor driving demand is domestic consumption. Workman said U.S. consumption domestically hit “the highest point in a decade” in 2020. “That is a great sign of our market,” she said.

The District of Columbia Department of Public Works (DPW) and the administration of Mayor Muriel Bowser have released final figures for 2018 they say indicate the district’s landfill diversion rate for residential materials grew from 23 percent in 2017 to more than 25 percent in 2018.

The figure was released in the district’s Calendar Year 2018 Solid Waste Diversion Progress Report, which also included a “Desktop Waste Characterization Study,” also established new baselines for measuring future progress.

Regarding waste characterization, the DPW estimates 70 percent of the city’s solid waste generation could be derived from the commercial (non-residential) sector as “a result of economic activity fueled by daily commuters and tourists.”

Although the waste diversion rate grew to 25.24 percent, Bowser has set an ambitious goal for the district to divert 80 percent of its waste by 2032. DPW’s Office of Waste Diversion (OWD) is charged with developing a zero waste plan to help achieve that goal.

“Together, these reports provide a clearer understanding of both the scale of the citywide waste stream and its composition,” says Interim DPW Director Christine V. Davis. “The district can now identify in a more precise way where there are opportunities for waste diversion and thus allows us to more confidently plan. Altogether, with the establishment of these performance metrics, the district is on track to become a leader in advancing progress towards zero waste.”

The progress report and study fulfill the reporting requirements of the city’s Sustainable Solid Waste Management Amendment Act of 2014.

Lake Forest, Illinois-based Reynolds Wrap is introducing what it calls an eco-friendly offering called Reynolds Wrap Recycled Foil. The firm says the 100 percent recycled-content foil “has the same reliable quality as Reynolds Wrap Foil but with a smaller carbon footprint, requiring 90 percent less energy than making new aluminum.”

The company’s Recycled Foil is made in Louisville, Kentucky, and the new product will be marketed in a new “easy open, easy close” box designed to make opening it simpler and to keep it fully closed during storage.

The company’s foils are in color-coded boxes, with Recycled Foil distinguished by some green coloration.

The Brussels-based European Plastics Converters (EuPC) organization says its sector is facing “severe shortages of raw materials and extreme price increases” that is challenging the survival of some companies and “endangering the production of countless products, ranging from applications in the building and automotive industry to essential goods for the food packaging and pharmaceutical supply chains.”

While investments in plastic recycling are multiplying in Europe, the EuPC says recycling alone will not be an answer. “In many cases, a switch to recycled material is only feasible to a limited extent,” states the group.

Adds the EuPC, “In several applications, legal safety regulations, technical hurdles, and quality requirements currently prevent the wider use of recycled materials. Especially for the mentioned essential goods.” Secondary resins, says the group, “are not available in sufficient quantities and consistent quality yet.”

Even where recycled-content resins are an option, “prices are rising significantly to parallel virgin material - and availability is declining,” states the EuPC.

Comments EuPC Managing Director Alexandre Dangis, “Manufacturers of plastic products all over Europe are experiencing serious bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials since the beginning of this year.” He cites polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) as markets affected.

Ron Marsh, chairman of the Polymers for Europe Alliance, also based in Brussels, points to the sea container shortage as part of the problem. “The current shortages are caused by the improving global economy in combination with exports of plastics from Europe to Asia and North America,” he comments. “Logistical problems due to a shortage of containers to Europe also contribute.”