U.S. Paper Recovery Rate Topped Fresh All-Time High in 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. paper recovery rate inched higher by 2.2 percentage points to hit new all-time high of 68.1% in 2018. It must be noted that the recovery rates during 2016 and 2017 were much lower at 67.2% and 65.9% respectively. The domestic mill consumption of recovered paper rose 2.7% in 2018, whereas recovered paper exports were up by 4.2% over the prior year.

According to statistics published by the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), the rise in paper recovery rate has resulted in tremendous decline in the amount of paper ending up in landfills. Over the past decade or so, this quantity has reduced significantly from around 33 million tonnes to 21.3 million tonnes.

Over 36% of the recovered paper and paperboard were used in containerboard production. Also, nearly 11.5% went into boxboard production. Despite import restrictions on mixed recovered paper by the Chinese administration, the share of U.S. exports of recovered paper to that country increased from 37.7% of total paper collected for recycling in 2017 to 38.3% in 2018.

The recovery rate for OCC/Unbleached Kraft papers increased sharply from 88.8% in 2017 to 96.4% in 2018. This was mainly on account of 30% surge in net OCC exports and moderate 2.8% jump in OCC consumption by domestic mills in the U.S. On the other hand, the recovery rates for newsprint/mechanical papers dropped to 66.2% in 2018. This compared with the recovery rate of 77.3% in 2017. The net exports witnessed sharp decline by more than 30% during the previous year.