Paper is omnipresent in everyday life. Whether as a hygiene product, in the packaging industry or simply to read a newspaper. But how much paper you really consume in a year is guaranteed to come as a surprise. We're not talking about 50 kg or 100 kg here. You consumed a whopping 219 kg of paper in 2020 - at least that's the calculated annual per capita consumption.

However, paper is also one of the resources that have a well-developed recycling loop. In the meantime, 79 percent - almost four-fifths - of paper requirements are covered by recovered paper. That sounds good, because it reduces fiber and primary energy requirements.

However, various problems also arise in the paper cycle. What looks like excellent recycling at first glance now faces challenges. We take a closer look, show you what the paper cycle looks like and how sustainable the process is.

What steps does the paper cycle involve?

The paper cycle could be a self-contained system - the emphasis is on could. Unfortunately, not 100 percent of paper demand can be met from recovered paper - also due to the range of applications for paper. The life cycle of paper is summarized in a step cycle.

Stages in the paper cycle at a glance:

1. Papermaking
2. Paper Processing
3. Use
4. Collection (of waste paper)
5. Sorting
6. Preparation

For and between the individual stages, imbalances arise due to exports and imports. In order to meet the total demand for paper, recovered paper:

• Fibers
• Minerals
• Additive

are added. Exports and imports shift the production balance. The same applies to the processing of paper. These inputs and outputs from the paper cycle influence the sustainability balance.

Sustainability in the paper cycle - several problems at once

You use paper in different ways, something as a writing pad or as packaging. The issue of thermal paper is particularly sensitive. Many consumers still throw it thoughtlessly into the waste paper. But it belongs in the residual waste.

Thermal paper has special properties due to a coating. These are important for its function, but are at the expense of sustainability in the paper cycle. Since thermal paper is disposed of separately, it is not included in the waste paper balance. The paper must be replaced in the cycle.

If old thermal paper nevertheless ends up in the waste paper and paper cycle, it becomes a burden. Pollutants accumulate in the cycle, which in turn adversely affects its sustainability. Modern solutions to various everyday problems do not necessarily ensure that the paper cycle becomes more sustainable.

Are you interested in recycling paper and other important resources? In our blog we regularly present interesting articles on these topics.

Sustainability: successes and potential problems

How can paper be a sustainable raw material? After all, trees have to be cut down and forests cleared for each sheet. In modern practice, however, paper can be a sustainable raw material. Recycling waste paper is only one approach. In the process chain, several actors and manipulated variables must be interlinked.

1. Sustainable use of available resources: recovered paper as a raw material
   Recovered paper now covers the lion's share of paper demand. In a production chain geared to sustainability, additional fiber material does not come from valuable wood. Weak and thinned wood as well as residual wood are used at this point. The latter accumulates in the wood processing industry. In this way, natural resources are conserved. Also because wood is in itself a CO2-neutral raw material.

2. Maintain and protect stands: Sustainable forestry
   
   The use of weak and thinned wood in the paper cycle not only focuses on CO2 neutrality. The removal of these woods from the stand additionally strengthens it, the pressure on the stock decreases and with it its susceptibility to damage.

3. Using renewable energy: Conserving resources in production
   Energy is needed to manufacture the fiber material in the paper cycle, as well as for paper production and even recycling. The higher the sustainability factor is to be, the greater the focus must be on renewable energy sources.

4. Reducing the impact of chemicals: conserving water
   Part of the impact of the paper cycle does not arise from fiber production or the energy footprint. Chemicals are used in the individual process stages during processing. Here, the most efficient use possible is indicated in order to reduce water pollution.

The paper cycle has made huge progress

These four adjusting screws are extremely important for sustainability in the paper cycle. As a consumer, you want high standards to apply. In practice, the paper industry has been implementing strict standards for years - also because customers and consumers increasingly value sustainability.

The Federal Environment Agency, for example, has published a guide aimed at public procurement agencies. This calls on them to also procure paper with environmental aspects in mind.

In addition, the legislator has created a certain framework within which the paper cycle operates. The decisive factor here is the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act (KrWG), which, among other things, defines the recycling hierarchy and sets the framework for the collection of waste paper.

Problems & challenges in the paper cycle

The course has been set for a high degree of sustainability. From an environmental point of view, there is much to be said for significantly increasing the proportion of recy cled paper and recovered paper. On average in Europe, more than 84 percent of paper and cardboard packaging is already recycled. The target is 90 percent. In practice, however, the paper industry has reached its limits when it comes to adjusting the screws on the sustainability aspect.

1. Wood fibers with limited service life
   During recycling and the manufacture of new paper and board products, the fibers are subjected to mechanical stress. The rule of thumb is that fibers can only be reused up to seven times.
   
   This means that a constant input of fresh fibers into the paper cycle is necessary. The Swiss Association Recycling Papier + Karton describes the loss of mechanically shortened fibers as 10 percent to 30 percent. This creates various challenges.
   
   But: new research paints a different picture. A university study on the use and reuse of wood fiber-based packaging material concludes that recycling is possible up to 25 times. Under these conditions, a significantly higher recycling rate could be realized.

2. Sourcing of virgin fibers: Sustainability is difficult to control
   In the paper cycle, the recycling rate is high, but at the same time it is undermined in two areas. On the one hand, through the still Very high consumption. According to the Federal Environment Agency, this is declining steadily in Germany, but is still well above the level of the 1990s.
   
   On the other hand, a certain amount of fiber is lost. The fresh fibers required come from various sources. It is not apparent from the finished product whether virgin fibers inventory and climate neutral are or not.
   
   
   This challenge in the area of sustainability can only be Through control solve and the Influence of paper converting companies to suppliers of virgin fibers.

3. Chemicals in the paper cycle: a threat to the recycling rate
   The production of paper is a process that does not do without chemicals. At this point, problems for sustainability in the paper cycle emerge. Chemicals are used for various reasons - for example, to loosen the fibers from the wood, for better processing, or to prepare paper for specific uses and tasks. In addition Adhesives and printing inks for use.
   
   This use is problematic on the one hand due to the fact that there is always a risk of accumulation in the paper cycle. On the other hand, some chemicals make paper unusable for recycling.
   
   This way Paper based hygiene products generally due to the hygiene regulations no longer used as waste paper.
   
   Particularly difficult is the handling with wet strength papers. These are frequently used in the food industry - for example in the area of to-go packaging or food packaging at the POS. Due to the water-repellent character, they can be no longer include these papers in the recycling process. 
   
   

   Perfluorinated alkyl substances - PFAS for short - are organic compounds with special properties. They can be used for coatings in the textile industry but also paper-based food packaging. Thanks to their dirt-, grease- and water-repellent properties, they have a practical use, but their longevity makes them a problem. In recent years, science has detected PFASs not only in the polar regions and the deep sea. The compounds have even turned up in fertilizers.

   
   However, chemicals can also be introduced into the cycle in the course of paper use. For this to function, oils or fats are rather disruptive. It does not matter at this point whether these are of organic or mineral origin. Problems arise in recycling, which is why these papers must be disposed of separately.

4. Energy consumption from fossil energy sources: The electricity mix as a problem 

   Sustainability in the paper cycle depends to a large extent on the energy sources from which electricity and heating energy are obtained. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, renewable energy sources currently account for 41 percent of Germany's electricity mix. The rest comes from conventional energy sources.

   In addition, transport routes are very important in the paper cycle. Currently, these can only be mapped on a large scale using fossil fuels - especially on the road. Raw paper products are transported by road to printing plants, packaging and newspapers/magazines are distributed by trucks - until the paper finally reaches the consumer.

   Another problem at this point is the challenge of mapping energy use across all steps in the supply chain. Energy efficiency and energy consumption are very difficult to capture at this point, but have a significant impact on the sustainability factor. 

Conclusion: Paper cycle - between practice and sustainability

Paper recycling conserves resources.

The sustainability of raw materials encompasses all areas of life. Paper is considered to be one of those areas with a very high recycling rate. After all, almost 80 percent of paper requirements are covered by recovered paper. In practice, the paper cycle looks very good against this background. But: You can't rely on the fact that all paper can be automatically reused.

In particular, the use of certain chemicals in manufacturing makes certain packaging or graphic products unusable when it comes to the paper cycle. A second aspect is the limited recyclability of wood fibers. It needs continuous supply of virgin fibers, which becomes a challenge in the process chain.

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