European Paper Recycling Council announces 72.5 percent recycling rate

The European Paper Recycling Council (EPRC) has announced the paper recycling rate in Europe reached 72.5 percent in 2016. The council has a goal to achieve a 74 percent paper recycling rate across Europe by 2020.

The EPRC made the announcement with the release of its Monitoring Report 2016. The report details continuing efforts and an outlook for 2020.

“We continue to make progress in elevating Europe’s recycling rate, but we must not remain complacent. A renewed focused on separate collection of paper for recycling is even more crucial to ensuring that Europe remains a global leader on paper recycling,” says Ulrich Leberle, secretary of the EPRC and raw materials director at the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), Brussels. “This is even truer as quality issues have become more apparent in other regions over the past year.”

Lisa Kretschmann, chairwoman of the EPRC, adds, “The monitoring report is an example of the value chain’s commitment to review and meet its promises. This year’s findings demonstrate that we are both serious about our product’s ecodesign and ensuring collected paper re-enters the paper recycling loop.”

The February 2018 report, focused on events through 2016, also exhibits positive results from a regional perspective with the number of countries with rates below 60 percent dropping to nine, while 17 countries have recycling rates exceeding 70 percent.