Raw materials for paper production - what is paper made of in Europe?
The basic raw material used in paper production is wood, from which pulp is obtained. However, the types and species of wood processed by the paper industry can vary, as can the origin of this wood.
What paper is made of - types and species of trees
The primary production of paper in Poland and throughout Europe uses softwood (75% production) and hardwood (25% production). It mainly comes from managed forests, where there is planned silviculture of trees to be felled. Another source of wood is the so-called maintenance felling of the remaining forests carried out in order to provide the neighbouring trees with optimal conditions for growth and crown development.
The most popular wood species for paper production are:
- Spruce - 40.5%,
- pine (so-called pulpwood) - 35%,
- birch - 11.4%,
- eucalyptus - 9.1%,
- Beech - 1.5%,
- aspen - 1.2%
- others (hornbeam, ash, maple, acacia, oak, alder, poplar, willow, chestnut) - 1.3%.
The decline in paper production recorded in recent years also translates into less interest in virgin raw material. In 2023, the volume consumption of softwoods is down by 1.1% and hardwoods by 5.7%.
Raw material for paper production "made in Europe"
According to the CEPI report, as much as 91% of the wood used for paper production in CEPI countries comes from their native forests. This is the highest rate since 2000 and a slight increase from 2022 (by 1 pp). Another 6.5 % is timber imported from EU countries that do not m. belong to CEPI. Thus, only 2.5% of wood comes from outside Europe. This means that Europe is almost self-sufficient in terms of raw material for paper production.
The role of recycled paper as a raw material should also be highlighted here. In 2023, in CEPI countries more than 53 million tonnes of waste paper and other paper waste were recycledthat have been reused in the manufacture of paper products. The leader here is cardboard - as much as 95% of cardboard and cardboard packaging is made from recycled paper.
Check, How paper is made in the first and subsequent circuits.
Wood chips - waste as raw material for paper production
In addition to the wood in the logs, wood chips are also used in paper production. These are small pieces of wood that arise as post-production waste from the furniture, lumber, packaging and joinery industries, among others. The scale of their use may surprise you - in 2023. as much as 21.4% of the total wood destined for the paper industry was wood chips.
According to the authors of the CEPI report, the use of industrial waste in the form of woodchips to produce paper is an important contribution to a circular economy. Although traditionally not considered as recycling by CEPI, this use of woodchips falls within its definition commonly accepted in the waste industry. Given the highest ever rate of paper recycling (almost 80%), it can be concluded that the CEPI countries have done their homework on circularity and are well on the way to creating a circular economy.
Source: European pulp & paper industry. Key statistics 2023, CEPI, https://www.cepi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Key-Statistics-2023-FINAL.pdf