Pulp & paper products

Wood currently provides the basis for approximately 90 per cent of global pulp production. Pulp is used predominantly as a major component in the manufacture of paper and paperboard, though smaller quantities also find their way into a diversity of products, including rayon, photographic films, cellophane and explosives, to name a few.

The BC pulp and paper industry has been a leader in the production of quality pulp and paper products for many decades and in reducing the environmental footprint of its operations. In addition to a 62 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, the industry has reduced its own fossil fuel use 60 per cent by substituting wood residuals and self-generating electricity and heat from bio-mass.

Although continued gains are still possible, the majority of the economically feasible reductions have been achieved and technological challenges need to be overcome to achieve further fuel switching. 

Recycled Content

The Canadian industry, and thus the BC contingent, is committed to using as much recovered paper as economically feasible. Advancements in technology allow producers to include up to 100 per cent recycled fibre in new paper and paperboard products made today.

Used paper and paperboard products make up the largest single category of material disposed of in North American municipal landfills. Because decomposing wood and paper products release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, recovering or diverting these materials from landfills not only provides fibre content for recycled paper products, it helps to address climate change.

Canada recycles almost three times as much as it did two decades ago-and uses five million tonnes of recycled paper every year. In 2003, members of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) announced a target to increase recycled fibre recovery rates in Canada to 55 per cent by 2010. This target has been exceeded, and the 2007 recovery rate is estimated to be 58 per cent. Other points of note include:

• In 1989, only one mill in Canada could manufacture recycled-content newsprint; today there are 22. There are 63 mills in Canada that use recovered paper for all or part of their supply to make printing papers, packaging, tissue papers and newsprint.
• With $2 billion in investments since 1989, Canada's paper industry now recycles 2.6 times as much as it did a decade ago.
• Between 1996 and 2001, Canadian mills reduced their landfill wastes by nearly 40 per cent.

FPAC member companies support all programs that encourage greater recovery of waste paper, and have as an objective that "no usable paper should be sent to landfill".

Source: Forest Products Association of Canada

The Need for Fresh Fibre

The paper industry cannot survive on recycled fibre alone. Each time paper is recycled, the fibres become progressively shorter and weaker and, after four to seven cycles, are no longer useful. Therefore, a key component of North America's paper fibre cycle is fresh (or virgin) fibre from sustainably managed forests.

Today, about 65 per cent of North America's paper comes from virgin supplies because of this physical limitation. MetaFore, a non-profit organization (that specializes evaluating environmentally preferable wood and paper products) estimated that North America would only have about four to six months newspaper supply without continued infusion of virgin fibre.

While recycled paper content is generally an excellent environmental choice, there are several factors to consider. Waste paper collection and transportation to recycling facilities can have an impact on carbon emissions. The type of processing required to create desired end products will also have an impact. Life cycle assessment studies show that paper with a high percentage of recycled content can be responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions because of its required handling and processing.

Recycled fibre is a scarce and valuable resource that needs to be used wisely. That means putting it into products that are best suited to its lower brightness and strength. Simply put, recycled fibers in products like bags, cardboard and newsprint result in far better use of the resource, allowing a larger proportion of the incoming paper to end up being reused rather than rejected in the recycling process. As paper grade quality increases, there is a tipping point at which the amount of recycled fibre can actually diminish the environmental returns because of required processing.

New or fresh wood fibre is an important contributor to Canada's high quality paper market. Consumers and buyers need to be aware of these issues when making product choices.