In Spain, 4,417,500 tons of paper and cardboard have been collected for recycling in 2019, which would be equivalent to 44 large football stadiums filled to the top with paper and cardboard; and the collection rate (paper that is collected for recycling as a percentage of total paper consumption) is 64.3%, according to the latest Update of ASPAPEL’s Paper Sustainability Report published last June.
Likewise, the recycling rate (paper that is recycled as a raw material in paper mills out of the total consumption of paper and cardboard) stands at 75%, four points above that of the previous year, which makes us the third most recycler country in the EU in volume, surpassed only by Germany and France and practically tied with Italy.
At the national level, the year 2019, with an increase of 6.7% in the Autonomous Communities of Spain as a whole, was the fifth consecutive year of growth in municipal selective collection after the 2008-2014 crisis. This growth was especially significant in large cities, which grew by 8.9% on average, and above all in the five Spanish cities with more than half a million inhabitants, where the municipal selective collection of paper and cardboard grew by 15.4%.
By autonomous communities, the ones that collect the most kilos per inhabitant through municipal selective collection are the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country and the Comunidad Foral de Navarra, the three above thirty kilos per capita and the Balearic Islands approaching forty. Above twenty kilos per inhabitant are Catalonia (very close to thirty), La Rioja, the Principality of Asturias, the autonomous city of Melilla, Aragon, Cantabria, the Community of Madrid and Castilla y León.
Likewise, the ones that have registered the most growth in 2019 are the Community of Madrid, the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community, all three with double-digit increases.
Waste management
79% of manufacturing waste is converted back into resources for direct agricultural use or as compost, recycled as raw material in other industries or via energy recovery in the factory itself or in other industries, in a perfect example of symbiosis industry, according to data from ASPAPEL.
Thus, the Spanish paper sector is an electro-intensive and gas-intensive industry, which leads the decarbonisation of the industry, committed to contributing to achieving climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. Factories in the sector produce most of the energy they use in efficient cogeneration plants located next to the factories with 1,086 megawatts of installed power. These plants produce both electricity and useful heat for the paper process, with the consequent saving of fuels and reduction of emissions. Cogeneration is a highly energy efficient distributed electricity generation system.
Thus, the paper sector is a leader in the production and use of renewable energy from biomass (33% of the fuel used by the sector is biomass and biogas and 66% natural gas).
Use of renewable energy
According to a modeling study by researchers at University College London (UCL) and Yale University, recycling paper can be helpful for the climate only if it is done with renewable energy.
According to a study, recycling paper can be useful for the climate if it is done with renewable energy
The study, published in ‘Nature Sustainability’, found that greenhouse gas emissions would increase by 2050 if we recycle more paper, since current methods rely on fossil fuels and electricity from the grid. The researchers modeled various scenarios for increasing waste paper recycling by 2050 and the impact this would have on greenhouse emissions. They found that if all waste paper were recycled, emissions could increase by 10%, as recycled paper tends to rely more on fossil fuels than new paper manufacturing.
However, the researchers found that emissions would be dramatically reduced if paper production and disposal were carried out using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels. Making new paper from trees requires more energy than recycling paper, but the energy for this process is generated from black liquor, the low-carbon byproduct of the wood pulp process. By contrast, paper recycling relies on fuels and electricity from the grid.
A sustainable packaging
What is becoming clearer every day is that in recent years, social awareness about the use of plastic containers and other contaminants for consumption has grown remarkably and more and more companies are opting for sustainable packaging when sending their products. products.
And it is that, the environmental characteristics of the paper bag are the key to positioning itself as a favorite, because for 90% of consumers, the four characteristics that best define the paper bag are that it cares for the environment and is biodegradable, ecological and renewable, according to a LinQ survey for the paper bag.
Likewise, 74% of those surveyed know that the paper bag takes much less time to biodegrade than other alternatives: in fact, the paper bag biodegrades in just three months without harming the environment, as it is a natural product.
One of the companies that has adapted its packaging model to this new trend is DS Smith, who has announced a new collaboration with TemperPack to incorporate ClimaCell thermal linings, which provide sustainable insulation for temperature-sensitive products, such as perishable foods. and medical products.
The product, which is made from paper and materials of organic origin, can be easily recycled and is deposited in the paper recycling bins. In this way, it will replace EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam, which is difficult to recycle and of which more than 350,000 tons are used per year in packaging; in Europe, only a third of this plastic packaging waste is recycled.
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