What’s the problem with paper-based packaging?
In the European Union (EU), packaging and packaging waste has risen fast and is projected to rise another 19 per cent in the next seven years. We use and throw away mountains of packaging - on average around 180 kilograms per European per year. And the most widely used and fastest growing packaging material is paper and card, most often mechanically laced with plastic, which is notoriously difficult to recycle. Overwhelmingly, Europeans are concerned about increased packaging and resulting impact on forests.
Three billion trees are cut down annually to meet the demand for paper packaging. The pulp and paper industry is one of the world’s major polluters and one of the heaviest users of fresh water. It also consumes four per cent of the world’s energy and is chemically intensive, polluting rivers and harming ecosystems.
The pulp and paper industry has negatively shaped forestry and is likely to harm future forests too. It has also left a trail of human suffering, as monoculture plantations suffocate communities living near them. From devastating forest fires in Portugal due to the drying effect of eucalyptus plantations, to intimidation and violence towards Indigenous Peoples in Chile. From Finland’s collapsing carbon sink, to Sweden replacing diverse forests with monoculture tree plantations, and the ravaging of Indonesia’s carbon-rich peatlands.
In November 2022 the European Commission published a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) to adopt strong measures to reduce single-use packaging and shift to re-use systems that reduce the impact of packaging on the natural environment and communities for the long-term. It is now being revised by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
Is paper packaging sustainable?
Internationally the paper and paperboard sector consumes around 40 per cent of industrially harvested wood. Most paper consumed in the EU is produced from European forests and around 30 per cent of EU woody biomass goes to pulp and paper production.
Three billion trees are cut down annually around the world to meet the demand for paper packaging. Counter to industry claims, paper production does not only use residues of logging, it uses roundwood and as such is a driving force behind over-logging.
As a result, European forests being used to support this industry are under huge pressure: for decades, many EU countries have practised intensive forestry, meaning healthy biodiverse forests have been replaced with monoculture plantations. Three quarters of European forests are clearcut, and most are defined as being in a bad state - reducing forests’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
In addition to consuming our European forests, the EU imports pulp and paper from Norway, Brazil, Uruguay and the United States of America (USA). In previous years there were also large imports from Belarus and Russia.
The pulp and paper industry is also one of the world’s major polluters and one of the heaviest users of fresh water. It also consumes four per cent of the world’s energy and is chemically intensive, polluting rivers and harming ecosystems.
In addition to the harm to nature and our climate, the extractive forestry industry offers fewer and fewer forestry jobs and threatens livelihoods, such as those of Europe’s only Indigenous Peoples, the Sámi, who are increasingly unable to practise traditional reindeer husbandry.
Can paper packaging be recycled?
The industry claims that paper in the EU comprises roughly 50 per cent recycled material, although there is no standardised system for measuring this and the real figure is likely to be lower.
Because paper packaging still needs to be strong, it relies on long fibre, virgin pulp. But even if all items could be made from recycled material, there simply isn’t the supply to meet the demand. So, any increase in packaging demand will have to be met through increased forest destruction.
Whether paper food packaging is made of recycled or virgin materials, it still uses many possibly dangerous chemicals and paper-based packaging is often mechanically laced with other materials such as plastic and aluminium which complicates its recyclability.
When it comes to single-use paper food packaging, the rate of recycling is even lower due to contamination by food and mixed materials that are difficult to recycle. Recycling companies have been clear that food boxes, paper cups and other similar paper packaging is incinerated, not recycled.
What needs to happen to achieve our recommendations?
The EU, which is currently revising its Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, needs to adopt strong measures to reduce single-use packaging and to end the reliance on virgin materials in paper-based products and packaging. Instead, we must shift to re-use systems that reduce the high impact of packaging on forests and the natural environment.
