On March 21, 2024, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report titled “Accelerating the circular economy in Europe: State and outlook 2024.” The report aims to analyze how recent policies in the European Union support the transition toward a circular economy and offers options and prospects to further promote this transition in the future.  

The report identifies several areas where efforts to develop a circular economy need to be made to alleviate environmental pressure and address the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – many are relevant to food packaging:  

• Europe continues to revolve around mass-producing products which often results in low product lifetimes. 
• Recycling rates are stagnating, and the current recycling system appears to be insufficient in reaching 2030 waste reduction targets (FPF reported).  
• Consumption levels in the EU continue to increase. The authors emphasize a need for “fundamental changes to consumption behavior,” including shifting from single-use products to reusable alternatives. 

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The first-ever PaperWeek Virtual is just behind us and we are excited to announce a record participation in recent years!

Over 960 took part in the 107th edition of PaperWeek, including over 700 participants from mills, making the event one of the best industry events in the world ratio-wise. For the first time, the conference was held virtually with a format enabling participation from a record number of mills across Canada. Including participants from 17 major pulp and paper companies (45+ mills), the 4-day event held on MSTeams offered delegates a great amount of knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices.

The Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA), an initiative sponsored by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), AICC – the Independent Packaging Association, the Fibre Box Association and TAPPI, recently released the results of a life cycle assessment (LCA) that revealed the corrugated packaging industry has made strides in reducing its environmental impact, with recycling infrastructure being a key driver of that progress.

The study, conducted by London-based Anthesis and Cary, North Carolina-based National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, evaluated the environmental performance of a United States industry-average corrugated product throughout its entire life cycle. It was based on information from containerboard mills representing approximately 69 percent of U.S. containerboard production in 2020 as well as converting facilities representing about 57 percent of 2020 U.S. corrugated shipments.

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On 15 February 2022, the Final Conference marked the conclusion of the two-year EU project “Turn the Page” – Recruitment strategies to attract young talents in the paper industry (project VS/2020/0016).

“Turn the Page” was launched in March 2020 by the Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi) in cooperation with IndustriAll European Trade Union. Supported by national partners in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy and Poland and by Spin360 as technical partner, its main goal was to develop an overall strategy to attract and retain young people to the pulp and paper sector.

Reduced energy supplies in Europe have caused once profitable paper mills to face entirely new profit-and-loss calculations, according to the president of the Paper Division of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR).

Officials said flows of recovered fiber are under "serious threat" from proposed changes to EU shipment legislation

During the most recent Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Paper Division meeting May 23, the committee was told major international flows of recovered fiber were under serious threat from proposed changes to European Union waste shipment legislation despite current figures underlining the pivotal role recovered fiber plays in the production of paper and paperboard globally.

According to Francisco Donoso of Spain-based Dolaf Servicios Verdes SL and divisional president of the committee, worldwide consumption of recovered fiber in 2020 totaled more than 208 million metric tons, with 182 million metric tons absorbed by packaging alone—accounting for more than 70 percent of that sector's needs. The newsprint sector consumed approximately 64 percent of recovered fiber, while tissue's figures were near 17 percent and printing and writing around 10 percent.

Recoup, a British organisation that promotes plastics recycling, is critical of the growing trend towards material substitution in packaging. 

The Chinese business is interested in the establishment of large-scale pulp and paper productions in Russia, particularly within the territory of the country’s Far East region, according to recent statements, made by representatives of Chinese investors and some local media reports.

Printing and writing paper producers in Western Europe take downtime in order to adapt their ouput to slow order intake.

Publication paper and fine paper prices are still facing pressure in the UK amidst persistently slow demand. LWC and coated woodfree paper manufacturers, in particular, are said to be experiencing very lacklustre order intake from the British markt. In February, a number of sources quoted the same prices as in the first month of 2023, but some prices have also been reduced in a month-on-month comparison. Paper producers are trying to bring their output in line with current demand by taking downtime in various ways.

Kolkata: The corrugated paper box industry is facing a crisis as prices of raw material have shot up by 30-35 per cent threatening to turn the business unviable, an industry official said.

In India, there are about 350 automatic corrugators and more than 10,000 semi-automatic units across the country and the segment generates direct employment for about 4,00,000 people.

Corrugated packaging industry has landed in deep trouble as prices of its principal raw material - kraft paper have started shooting up over the past few days. There has been a sharp price increase of Rs 5000 per tonne of kraft paper within a span of 10 days. The mills say that this is not the end and expect further increase in the coming days, said Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers of India (FCBM) in a release issued on Monday.

Corrugated Paper Market 2021-2026 Research Report on Global professional and comprehensive report on the Corrugated Paper Market. The report monitors the key trends and market drivers in the current scenario and offers on the ground insights. Corrugated Paper Market Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) has expressed concern at proposed amendments to the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), claiming the move could hamper circularity and innovation.

Currently there are exemptions to cardboard, in relation to reuse targets for transport packaging. However, a proposed amendment could change that and the CPI claims that the move “could potentially lead to a staggering 12 million-tonne surge in plastic consumption at the expense of the circular economy and decarbonisation initiatives”.

In a statement, the trade body said: “CPI calls upon European decision makers to stand firm and support the cardboard exemptions in the PPWR. This is crucial to support the UK and wider European economy, protect local jobs, and promote sustainable packaging solutions that have been the cornerstone of the industry’s environmental commitments.

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Cepi member countries’ paper and board production decreased by 5.9% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to preliminary figures, reflecting the heavy impact on the industry of high energy prices and an abrupt slowdown of the European economy during the second half of the past year. Total production in 2022 reached 84.8 million tonnes, with a decrease reported in almost all paper and board grades with the notable exception of household and sanitary grades.

At the same time, consumption of paper has remained stable in spite of the EU’s economic slowdown, its GDP growing by 0.3% in the third quarter and stagnating during the last quarter of 2022 according to the latest estimates. The EU economy is now forecast to grow only by 0.8% in 2023 and by 1.6% in 2024.