From waste, recycled cardboard becomes a "raw material"
Audio 01:48
Cardboard packages sorted and tied up in a recycling center.
(Illustrative image) Getty Images / Mint Images RF - Mint Images
By: Marie-Pierre Olphand Follow
2 min
This is a victory for professionals in the sector but also for recycling.
Recycled paper and cardboard are no longer considered as waste, but as a raw material in several European countries.
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It is a victory in the form of a few lines: an entry in the Official Journal which gives the status of "raw material" to recovered and sorted paper and cardboard.
For professionals in the sector who have invested in recycling with increasingly sophisticated machines - 80% of the chain is now automated in factories - this is the recognition of a profession.
Stéphane Panou, president of Federec's paper-cardboard sector, is delighted: a recycler is no longer a ragpicker who collects used cardboard.
The end of export harassment
It is also the recognition that sorting efforts can make it possible, starting from a mixed material, to obtain a raw material, consumed instead of virgin wood fiber.
A product that is guaranteed by a standard (EN 643) since to obtain the “raw material” label, paper and cardboard must meet several criteria.
It also means the end of red tape, especially for exporters.
Transporting a product that has a waste status, however harmless it may be, meets regulations that are much more restrictive than that of a raw material.
French exporters are particularly concerned, because the country produces more recycled cardboard and paper than it consumes, as is also the case of the United Kingdom.
The French surplus of 1.3 million tonnes per year is exported to Europe, but also outside the EU, India and Indonesia.
A material that consumes less energy than virgin wood fiber
With this new regulation, France joins Italy and Spain who launched the movement in Europe.
It also reflects the growing use of recycled material, some paper makers today no longer use a gram of virgin fiber.
The main reason is a more competitive price, which should not change with these new standards, but also the proximity of the resource which is not subject to the vagaries of maritime transport.
From an environmental standpoint, this raw material is attractive.
The carbon footprint of pulp made from eucalyptus wood from South America is bound to be greater.
Using recycled paper and cardboard is also much less energy-consuming since a first transformation has taken place.
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