The Economics of Paper Recycling

History Lesson

Paper has come a long way from its initial creation in 105 A.D. when Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese court official, invented it. Made of bark, hemp and rags, this “paper” began a communications revolution.  The first paper mill in North America was founded in 1690 near Philadelphia, beginning the paper boon in the soon-to-be U.S.

Today

Recovered and recycled paper is a hot commodity in today’s international market. According to American Recycler, “prices for recovered paper will ascend to a new peak in 2009 following a sustained increase in paper and paperboard output and recovered paper consumption.”  Additionally, the largest single export from the U.S. is waste paper, of which a majority (9 million tons each year) is sent to China.

The world continues to push for more recycled products. Countries around the globe such as Canada, China, India, Belgium, the U.S. and more have made significant investments to increase their capacity for recycling. Paper prices reached an all-time high in 2007 and have since tempered but remained strong in 2008.

According to Arthur Secor, two innovations have dramatically increased the profitability of paper recycling: advanced technology and ever-expanding uses for recycled paper. Increased curbside access and single-stream collections have helped boost the rate of recovered paper, with the U.S. reaching a 56.1 percent recovery rate of waste paper in 2007, according to paperrecycles.org.

Why?

As energy prices rise, recycling is becoming a more integral part of our waste collection.  From the fuel required to pick-up recyclables, process and ship them, the savings in using recycled material over virgin are dramatic.  For example, by recycling one ton of paper, enough energy is saved to power the average American household for six months, according to the EPA.

Americans consume 600 pounds of paper per person annually, office employees generate 70 pounds of waste paper each on a monthly basis and each ton of paper consumes three cubic yards of space in a landfill.  From this perspective, we throw away millions of dollars of a valuable material each year, according to Seco.

Seco also adds that the costs of creating virgin paper are steep. To create one ton of virgin paper, you need:

• 17, 30-foot trees
• Four acres of land
• Two barrels of oil
• 7,000 gallons of water
• Over 4,000 kilowatt hours of electricity

However, the plus side of this investment is that the paper created can be recycled four to six times with minimal virgin pulp required to bolster the product. At this point, the only major cost of recycling is energy, with approximately 1,600 kilowatt hours required.

What’s In It For Us?

With a multitude of recyclable paper products available, such as newspapers, magazines, catalogues, greeting cards, wrapping paper, packaging, stationery and mail, consumers have many opportunities to prevent unnecessary waste.  However, waxed and food contaminated papers are not recyclable.

Do your part and recycle your household and office wastepaper, using Earth911.