In the latest CEPI European Pulp and Paper update, Henri Vermeulen of Smurfit Kappa said more incineration of recovered paper would “undermine the long years of work done improving the quality of paper collection”.
– Eija-Riitta Korhola MEP
CEPI – the Confederation of European Paper Industries – spoke out earlier this month about the danger of European lawmakers encouraging the generation of power from biomass paper fuels (see letsrecycle.com story).
But voicing further concerns, Mr Vermeulen – the recycling and product committee chairman for CEPI – said subsidising biomass power generation at the expense of paper recycling would distort the market for “valuable fibres”.
He said: “Recovered paper is best used in material recycling and recovered for energy when fibre is no longer fit for paper making. This sustainable practice of the European paper industry should be supported by EU and national policies, as it contributes to European competitiveness and sustainability.”
Energy
The paper industry is already facing challenges from high energy costs and is now facing a double-edged sword with the high price of oil also encouraging biomass power generation along with EU and government policies aiming to fight climate change.
“The EU appears to be regarding renewable energy as some kind of 'silver bullet' that will solve all problems,” complained Jan Astrom, president and chief executive of SCA.
“The European Environment Agency has painted an enticing picture of the reserves of biomass in Europe and the new motto seems to be 'let's move in and burn it all'.”
Mr Astrom went on to suggest that only low value biomass should be allowed to be used in energy production.
“A competitive and sustainable European economy that creates growth and jobs needs to make the best use of its existing natural resources. In that context, it cannot be acceptable to burn raw material that can be used for products essential for society,” he said.
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Life cycle
Expressing her opinion on the issue of biomass, Eija-Riitta Korhola, the Finnish MEP and chairman of the European People's Party working group on energy, said more work needed to be carried out on the impact of changed policies on biomass.
“The picture painted for bioenergy is too rosy in general and misleading vis–vis mitigating climate change,” she said. “It is essential that all renewable energy is assessed with life cycle thinking and that peer reviews are used. This has not been done in any of the Member States or in the EU so far.”
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