The future of sustainable paper

Based on extensive primary research and expert technical and market analysis, The Future of Sustainable Paper Markets to 2016 provides quantitative market sizes and forecasts for each end use, paper grade and geographical region.

According to the report, the global market for sustainable papers is set to rise from 16,833,000 tonnes in 2010 to 24,832,408 tonnes in 2016.

Sustainability as it relates to the paper industry is a relatively new concept, and one that is still not familiar to many paper producers, consumers and others in the supply chain.

Paper mills, their customers and the entire paper supply chain evolved primarily to get appropriate fibres out of the forest and to the mill, and to get the resulting product into the right hands, in an economical fashion. The fact that harvesting vast numbers of trees has the potential to adversely affect the regional and world environment as well as the forested area itself was not even imagined when many of today’s paper mills were first built.

Pollution, energy consumption and landfill implications associated with transport of paper, printing or converting it, distributing the printed product and then disposing of it after its use, were originally only considered when they had immediate economic implications.

If a paper industry and its downstream industries were invented today, much more consideration would be given to the environmental issues mentioned above, and others beside. Since these industries are already in place, along with billions of dollars of financial commitments and millions of jobs worldwide, there are, conceptually, two ways of mitigating the environmental impact of their activities: either eliminate the activities altogether, or transform the industries so that they conduct themselves in a way that dramatically reduces their environmental footprint, moving over time to a situation where ongoing activities don’t lead to further degradation in the environment.

While some in today’s world might prefer the first option, they don’t work for paper companies, printers or converters. Considering also the economic implications for investors (including countless pension systems) and communities involved in, or even dependent on, these industries, the second alternative is the only one that is realistic. Indeed, any proposal to ban paper exposes the proponent to criticism as somebody so indifferent to human needs as to be capable of being opposed, but not worked with in a constructive way.

It is not too ambitious to talk about a thorough rethinking of how the paper and downstream industries operate. Just as one example, regardless of which parts of the supply chain pay for it, the system as a whole is evolving towards a view that operating in a sustainable manner is a part of the cost of doing business in an environmentally fragile world – not a luxury, but simply the way things must be done in order for paper, and print, to become a sustainable activity.

It is in this context, then, that the term ‘sustainable paper’ has been invented. Sustainable paper is paper whose creation and use can be carried out in such a way that its environmental footprint is mitigated to such an extent that it no longer contributes to the degradation of the world’s environment. Realistically, the definition of sustainable paper will evolve over time as the science improves. Also, some paper grades should be considered as improvements over present products, but also as interim steps on the road toward more sustainable products in the future. In this sense, the term sustainable paper has a relative aspect.

The Future of Sustainable Paper Markets to 2016 is available now for £3,750. For more information contact Stephen Hill on +44 (0)1372 802025 or email stephen.hill@pirainternational.com