European duo look to raise recycling rates for paper and board

Paper recycling levels in Europe are set to rise dramatically if an agreement by its two main paper industry trade associations achieve their targets of a 56% recycling rate for paper and board in Europe by 2005. This will represent a 25% increase on current levels and see a further 10 million tonnes recycled. The agreement has been drawn up between the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA). ERPA consists generally of recovered paper merchants and its senior UK representative is Gerry West of Severnside Recycling. Giving some details of the pledge at the meeting of the paper division of the Bureau for International Recycling last week, Martin Kleiweg, head of BPB Recycling, said: “To monitor progress of the declaration, a European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) will be set up. The ERPC will consist of the two founder signatories and is open to other industry associations within the paper chain and to representatives of the European institutions.” Mr Kleiweg said that attention will also be paid to getting improvements in the quality of recovered paper in a bid to enforce its status as a secondary raw material which is important in terms of the general discussion about recyclables and whether they are waste or non-waste. He added: “I believe this is an important step towards a more general and proactive environmental strategy being developed by the European paper and recovered paper industry. The aim is to show that we together are taking action to contribute to a sustainable development on a voluntary basis.” The full text of the declaration is on the BIR website.