Finland, one of Europe’s biggest paper exporters, is now – paradoxically - importing more scrap paper from abroad to use as raw material. That’s because fewer Finns are subscribing to daily newspapers. At the same time China is buying up huge amounts of used paper. As demand for scrap paper increase, so naturally does its price.
A dramatic drop in the volume of paper collected in recycling bins has led to the result that Finnish companies, such as the Kouvola-based home insulation manufacturer Ekovilla, have to ship more paper in.
“Last year we had to import about half of our paper raw material,” says CEO Mika Ervasti.
Some manufacturers that have traditionally relied on recycled paper have been replacing it with new primary fibre. Demand for such virgin material is growing by more than five million tons annually.
Annually Finns recycle some 700,000 tons of paper, which is equivalent to that produced by one large paper machine. Finland has one of the world’s best paper return rates, with two-thirds of all paper and paperboard recycled in 2010.
However sorting of various types of paper is inefficient, which limits its usability as a raw material by Finnish industries. Therefore, paradoxically, much of it is exported - while better-sorted waste paper is imported.
“If we used mixed paper, the quality of our product would suffer. It would have weaker installation and insulation properties,” explains Ervasti.
Although China is buying up scoped papers, Ekovilla imports most of its waste paper from 0the other Nordic countries and Russia. But now to a higher rate than earlier.
