Reimagining Paper in the 21st Century, RePaper Project of the Environmental Paper Network

Climate change, declining oil reserves, environmental degradation and the sudden global economic crisis are colliding to force rapid changes in many industries and systems that were unquestioned until very recently. Plans that took for granted global shipping for everyday products and siting for new facilities far from their ultimate markets now make less sense as planetary limits come more starkly into focus. The collapse of foundational systems such as the economy is frightening and confusing.
Even before the global economic crisis surfaced in 2008, U.S. and Canadian paper companies were in decline, with many reducing or eliminating their research and development divisions, mergers and acquisitions constricting ownership and financial resources, pulp and paper mills closing, and new investments focused on China and South America.
By 2006, nearly half of the recovered fiber collected in North America was exported to China and the recycling system increasingly ignored domestic recycling manufacturers’ needs, particularly for quality requirements. Now, the economic crisis has further limited resources, both domestically and globally. Recovered fiber markets crashed in the autumn of 2008 when China radically reduced its demand in response to contracting consumer markets in North America and they have not yet rallied. 
But if the way out and the way forward is through converting to a green economy, as the U.S. government and many environmentalists and economists argue, then this is the time to begin serious discussions about what changes could set the North American paper industry on a path towards renewed strength and leadership.
The RePaper Project of the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) presents this paper in order to stimulate discussions about government policy options that could help support rebuilding a thriving, environmentally sustainable paper industry in North America, as well as improving the recycling system to support it. While environmental sustainability involves many factors, including sustainably harvested wood and agricultural fibers and clean technology, this discussion paper focuses on the critical component of recycled content. Recycling is not the whole answer to environmental improvement, but it does significantly improve performance on virtually all levels at the same time, including reducing resource demands, energy and water demands, production of climate change gases and pollution, and solid waste disposal.