BALANCE BETWEEN VIRGIN AND RECYCLED FIBER S

Since th middle of this century regionally and globally a significant development of waste paper utilization took place which will continue in the future. In the medium-term a balance between virgin and recycle d fibres will be achieved in countries with an already high waste pape r utilization rate. The best example for that thesis is Japan. Despite the fact that the Japanese Paper Industry has entered a voluntary agr eement the utilization rate has stagnated in the past years and the re cently renewed agreement only aims at a marginal increase until the ye ar 2000. Affected by the regional availability of raw material resourc es the balance between virgin and recycled fibres will be nationally r ealized on different levels. Apart from economy and supporting legal m easures, the utilization of virgin and recycled fibres will be further driven by the required quality profile oi paper products on the marke t place. Thanks to technological measures (e.g. stock preparation, add itives) the characteristics of recycled fibres and of paper made of re cycled fibres will be consolidated and partly even improved. This is t he case particularly with woodcontaining papers because their share oi mechanical pulp is more recycling resistant than delignified pulp. Th erefore, the quality oi virgin pulps has to be assessed with reference to their recyclability. Even in a highly developed recycling economy the permanent input oi primary raw materials into the recycling system is a necessity The growth of the population and globally growing stan dard of living will affect the significance oi the raw material waste paper beneficial for saving of wood which increasingly also serves oth er purposes such as timbre wood and biofuel.