• Germany is a world leader in recycling.
• But we cannot do without fresh fibres.

Like perpetual motion, endless recycling is not feasible in practice, but in fact the paper industry is not that far off. In Germany 78 per cent or around 16 million tons of used paper is recovered. Not all of it can be recycled but every year the paper industry reuses 15.5 million tons of recovered paper (2008) to make new paper. This is equivalent to a utilisation rate (ratio of recovered paper used to total paper manufactured) of 68 per cent, an outstanding performance given the vast product spectrum in Germany.

Various cleaning and processing phases are required to enable recovered paper to be used to make new paper. These inevitably involve a loss of fibre or quality. Fresh fibres are therefore required to maintain the paper cycle. Wood fibre in paper can normally be reused up to six times, in the laboratory even more.

With the machinery available in Germany and the paper made on it, the technical possibilities for increasing the amount of recovered paper used have been practically exhausted. If market developments cause an increase in the demand for recycled paper, however, new production capacities will be created in which more recovered paper, possibly imported, will be used.

In terms of quality, recycled paper stands up to comparison with paper made from mechanical or chemical pulp. It should not be forgotten, however, that some paper types have higher tear strength and printability requirements and cannot therefore be made completely or at all from recovered paper.