AF&PA Announces 2003 Paper Recovery Rate
June 28, 2004
Erin Spinka
Atlanta -- At the Paper Recycling Conference and Trade Show today, the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, D.C., announced that the United States reached a 50.3 percent paper recovery rate in 2003, equaling approximately 50 million tons of recovered paper. AF&PA, which set a goal in 2002 of reaching a 55 percent recovery rate by 2012, added that of the raw material used to make new paper in the United States, 37 percent is recovered material.
Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C.; Keep America Beautiful, Stamford, Conn.; and SP Newsprint Co., Atlanta, also were present and emphasized the importance of public and private partnerships in recycling education efforts. Fred von Zuben, chairman and CEO of The Newark Group, Cranford, N.J., and a member of the AF&PA Recovered Fiber CEO Committee, said that challenges for the U.S. recovered paper market include contamination caused from single stream collection and increasing demand overseas, especially from China, for recovered paper. He concluded, however, that these obstacles can be overcome with continuing education and increased recovery rates.
For more details on the announcement or on AF&PA’s new recycling toolkits, visit http://www.afandpa.org.
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