EPRC: Go East, Young Recycler

The nations of Western Europe have welcomed several former Soviet bloc countries into the European Union fold this decade, which could prove a fortunate thing for paper recycling companies.

Speakers at the European Paper Recycling Conference, held in Barcelona in late September, cited the former Soviet bloc as the most promising part of the continent in which to try to obtain additional material.

By contrast, many of the Western European markets are “mature” with limited opportunities for increased tonnage.

Recycling company director Michael Kuehl of Rolf Kuehl Papierhandels GmbH, Diedorf, Germany, says his nation’s recyclers are already collecting some 12.9 million metric tons of scrap paper in a market that may top off at 14.3 million metric tons.

Regulators in that nation are urging recyclers to concentrate on this last segment, notes Kuehl, who says the landfilling of paper in Germany became illegal last year. “It is a special topic of discussion right now,” he remarked.

The mandate is also beginning to change the nature of collection, with mixed or commingled collection becoming more common. Germany has seen a 30 percent rise in the production of mixed paper grades in recent years, according to Kuehl.

Esko Uutela, principal of EU Consulting of Starnberg, Germany, described the Benelux region as having “almost maxed out its collection,” and Spain as another nation that “has been doing very well in recent years” in terms of increasing its recovery rate.

While the European Union Packaging Directive has optimized collection in Western Europe, Uutela noted that the Eastern European nations that have joined the EU will soon have to meet these same goals, providing opportunities for recyclers willing to work internationally.

His own forecasts predict that Eastern Europe will increase its recovery rate from less than 30 percent in 1994 to close to 45 percent by 2012. The rate will be higher in nations that have joined the EU but will likely be lower in Russia and the Ukraine.

Regarding Russia and other non-EU Eastern European nations, Uutela remarked that an uncertain investment climate is preventing both paper makers and recyclers from making significant investments in that part of the world.

A nation that is almost certainly tapped out for collection is Finland, where a system of closed-loop collection and mill consumption is operated by a consortium of mill companies, according to Merja Herlander of Paperinkerays OY, the collection company established by that consortium.

The European Paper Recycling Conference, hosted by the Recycling Today Media Group, took place Sept. 25-26 at the Hotel Tryp Apolo in Barcelona.