鈥淐ould do better鈥� seems a harsh verdict on a country that has single-handedly revitalised the paper recycling industry, but when that country is as large as China even a small improvement in efficiency will create a global benefit.
A report by , a forest conservation group based in Washington DC, has singled out China as an unexpected force for environmental good. Since 2002, the country has recycled 65 million tonnes 鈥� about 7 per cent 鈥� of the world鈥檚 waste paper. In 2006 alone this saved 54.3 million tonnes of trees from pulping. 鈥淏efore China became interested in using waste paper as a fibre source, the market was really flat. It hadn鈥檛 changed for years,鈥� says Luke Bailey from Forest Trends.
However, the report also highlights a worrying new aspect of China鈥檚 paper industry. Not content with being the world鈥檚 waste-paper basket, China also imports about 8 million tonnes of wood pulp every year to produce high-quality paper. Although two-thirds is sourced from sustainable forests in the Americas and Europe, the rest comes from unsustainable sources in Indonesia and eastern Russia. Forest Trends is calling for an end to that practice, and believes that pressure on China itself is the key. China can influence the countries it imports from while satisfying the markets it supplies of the legality of their paper-based goods, Bailey says. Pressuring Indonesia, he adds, would simply raise its wood pulp price and so open the way for other countries to export illegally to China.
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The report says Chinese paper companies should verify the sustainable origins of their pulp by adopting systems such as that used by the .
