The pulp industry has always been considered as a resource recycling industry for recycling waste paper. The current environmental issues facing the pulp industry are concentrated on the following two points. First, with the increase in population and economic development in the world, the demand for paper in the regions centered on Southeast Asia continues to grow. It is necessary to ensure the supply of raw materials while considering environmental impact. The first is to study measures to reduce the global warming gases that are emitted by production activities.

Trends in paper demand

In many developed countries, with the rise of new media, there is a tendency for paper demand to stagnate, and even some varieties have reduced their demand. It is estimated that the global average annual growth rate will be between 0 and 2%, and there will be no significant growth. . The future growth rates in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America, including China, are only maintained at 4% to 5%. However, as China adopted a market economy and reform and opening-up policy, with the dramatic increase in GDP, the consumption of paper and paperboard in 2004 was 3.8 times that of 1990, and it became the world’s second largest paper demanding country, as shown in Figure 1. Show.

In 2004, the world's demand for paper was 360 million tons, and by 2015 it could reach 460 million tons. For the paper industry, how to ensure that paper resources have become a top priority.

Recycling waste paper becomes a topic

In the 1980s and 1990s, the issue of waste disposal was listed as a major problem in Japanese society, especially waste paper in waste products. Most of them were not reused, but were burned or buried. How to make consumers and The integration of enterprise groups to recover this excess waste paper has become the key. From 2002 to 2005, the domestic waste paper recovery rate increased from 65.4% to 71.1%, but the utilization rate has been around 60%. The main reason is that the export volume of waste paper, especially to China, has increased significantly.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the demand for waste paper outside the country, and the change in recycling has been stable. While the recovery rate has risen, impurities, garbage, and taboos have been added, resulting in a decrease in the quality of waste paper. In order to maintain quality, the drug load has increased. Experienced a new issue of falling production rates.

In order to establish a recycling-oriented society, the Japan Papermaking Association has formulated measures to increase the utilization rate of waste paper in the future. It plans to increase the utilization rate of waste paper to 62% by 2010. In order to stabilize the quality of waste paper, it aims at the removal of waste impurities. Bleaching and other active development of processing technologies and the serial use of waste paper, etc., make every effort to recycle waste paper. On the other hand, waste paper is recycled and reused, and its quality will inevitably decline. Figure 2 shows the cross-section of the old and new pulp fibers. It can be seen that there are not many cracks in the cross-section of the fresh pulp, while the interior of the waste paper pulp exhibits peeling and cracking, which results in the fragility of the fibers. Therefore, toilet paper, building material base paper, and taboo products cannot be recycled. In other words, in essence, relying solely on waste paper as papermaking raw materials, continuous production activities cannot be established and must be blended with fresh pulp.

Printing paper introduces green standards

In Japan, when consumers purchase printing paper, they can use some methods to judge whether they are environmentally friendly, such as the well-known GPN guideline, the green introduction method, and the identification of environmental protection labels.

1. GPN guiding objectives

The GPN guiding objectives are jointly planned by enterprises, administrative departments, and consumers advocating for the green, and are formulated on the basis of collecting opinions from multiple consumers, and are not biased towards any industry or group. In October 2005, the guiding objectives of the GPN had been revised. The main focus of the revision was that if a variety of ingredients were used, fresh pulp that meets environmental requirements was added to the waste paper pulp, and the ratio of the two was adjusted for different varieties. In addition, the manufacturer is required to confirm the actual conditions of the raw materials at the time of furnishing and to ensure compliance with environmental protection and related requirements.

2. Green introduction method

In April 2006, it was revised to increase the blending ratio of previous waste paper pulp to more than 70% when purchasing printing paper. For fresh pulp, it is necessary to prove the legitimacy of the harvest in the place of production.

3. Identification of environmental protection marks

In respect of raw materials, the standard stipulates that the blending rate of waste paper pulp is over 70%. This standard has been in use in Japan since its revision in 2004. In 2007, the newly established forest resource application specification committee discussed the direction of fresh pulp.

Printing environmental protection paper

Recycled paper

The most common paper that meets the requirements of environmental protection is the recycled printing paper that is mixed with waste paper pulp. It will undoubtedly become the main force for printing environmental protection paper in the future. However, as a direction for the future, not all types of paper products should increase the blending ratio of waste paper, but must incorporate the waste paper pulp properly in combination with quality requirements. Of course, as a paper product, the maximum use of waste paper pulp is the best choice for environmental protection.

2. Forest certification paper

From the understanding that only recycled paper is environmentally friendly, fresh pulp can also be environmentally friendly. It is understood that printing companies using forest certification paper in Japan are increasing. Currently popular in Japan is FSC certified and PEFC certified forest certification paper.

3. Thinning wood paper

At present, the reclaimed wood paper is designated by Japan’s National Forest Federation and designated by the Hokkaido Timber Industry Federation for Hokkaido's thinned timber. The variety is complete, and it is recognized as containing a certain percentage of thinned wood pulp. condition. It uses thin wood as a raw material, but it has a cost disadvantage in terms of cost competitiveness compared with imported materials due to rising costs due to harvesting, collection, and transportation costs to the wood chip plant. Therefore, it is currently limited to a limited number of regions such as Japan's Hokkaido and Kyushu. However, considering the overall printing paper, the use of thinned wood paper is likely to expand in the future.

Eco-friendly paper products are not limited to recycled paper. Paper products using fresh pulp can also be labeled with green labels. For such a big change, customers who use paper are sometimes confused, and as a manufacturer, they must constantly explain to customers that they understand the scheduling of raw materials, production processes with low environmental burden, and other environmental considerations. Users are encouraged to use various printing papers.