Recovered Paper Statistical Highlights
U.S. recovery of paper and paperboard increased in 2004 to an all-time high 50.3 million tons. The overall gain was mainly driven by domestic mill consumption of recovered paper, which rose 3.2 percent.
Exports of recovered paper increased 0.8 percent in 2004, marking the smallest increase in years. This compares with growth of 22.4 percent in 2003, and an average annual expansion rate of 5.6 percent between 1990 and 2004. While exports to South Korea, India, Japan and Western Europe declined in 2004, China increased its purchases of U.S. recovered paper by 8.8 percent.
The new supply of paper and paperboard (domestic production plus imports, less exports) rose 3.7 percent in 2004. However, some of that incremental tonnage may have gone into inventory and not been available for recovery. The slackening of export growth and the rebound in paper and paperboard supply caused the U.S. recovery rate to edge slightly lower in 2004 to 49.5 percent.
In the future the U.S. will need to recover more paper and paperboard to meet expanding domestic and export demand. With this in mind the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and its members have set an aggressive goal to recover 55 percent of all paper consumed in the U.S. by 2012. For additional information on AF&PA’s recovered fiber program, please visit www.paperrecycles.org
Related Files
Recovered Paper Statistical Highlights--2005 Edition (PDF File)
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