Criteria for end-of-waste status for paper recycling should be implemented by the beginning of 2014 at the latest, according to the European Recovered Paper Association president Merja Helander.
Speaking at the recent BIR paper round table in Barcelona, the director of Finland’s Lassila & Tikanoja paper company said that because paper is “a very good and clean raw material” that it should get the status by this date despite the issue of multi-material paper criteria still needing to be overcome by the European Commission’s Technical Adaptation Committee.
She also predicted that the revision of the EN643 European list of standard grades of recovered paper and board should be in use by the end of 2013.
Speaking at the same event, J&H Sales International managing director and BIR Paper Division president Ranjit Baxi said that the USA has continued to win market share from Europe in exports to China.
According to his figures, US fibre exports to China jumped around 3.3 million tonnes of 66.6 per cent when comparing January-June 2007 with the first half of 2012.
But European shipments to the same market climbed just 1.4 million tonnes or 35 per cent. He said that Europe “has to get back to the drawing board” with regard to the quality of the fibre it supplies to China and other customers in Asia.
Currently, the US is also providing good quality material at a competitive price to the European market. As was shown in the last issue of SCM Intelligence, the US ex-works price for OCC was $136 compared to a UK price of $117 when the exchange rate is taken into account.
