PA PER A ND PACK AGING
PRESERVING THE FOREST The paper and pulp industry is committed to sustainability of forests and never takes out more than it replaces. By Trevor Crighton
THE PRODUCT THAT KEEPS ON Jane Molony
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he South African forestry industry has a staggering 840 million trees planted over 693 000 hectares for pulp and paper production. In South Africa, paper is produced from sustained forestry, where trees are grown in rotation with only six per cent of the total area harvested each year. Felled areas are replanted, and there are thousands of hectares of trees of different ages growing all the time. Farmed trees are also not irrigated, drawing their water from rainfall and groundwater sources.
locked up for longer.” The sector prides itself on environmental stewardship, with a focus on carbon sequestration, water-efficiency, the use of renewable biomass-based energy and steam recovery. Molony says that the trees grown by the industry are grown especially for fibre (pulp and paper) and timber (sawmilling). “Eighty per cent of our country’s plantations are Forest Stewardship Council certified. We are proud of the fact that 25 per cent of the land allocated to plantations is set aside for biodiversity, and that some of the bestmanaged wetlands are owned by forest and forest product companies.” All paper made in South Africa comes from either virgin fibre of sustainably managed plantations or recycled paper fibre, or a combination of the two. Some mills use bagasse, the waste from sugarcane processing. “We can meet our domestic needs for A4 copier paper, newsprint, toilet tissue and most packaging grades,” says Molony. “There are certain grades ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP that are not made locally “We often say that trees don’t grow any more such as coated from the ground; they grow from stocks for magazines, the air, absorbing carbon The pulp and paper sector brochures and dioxide, storing the carbon contributed R24.13-billion high-end printing. and releasing the oxygen,” (0.53 per cent) to local GDP in With the decline in says Jane Molony, executive 2019 and R6.63-billion to the South demand, the mills director of the Paper African balance of trade, while the or paper machines Manufacturers Association forestry-to-paper contribution to producing these of South Africa (PAMSA). agricultural GDP is 25.22 per cent. grades closed “This carbon remains locked The forest-products industry in down and, where up in the fibre, through the South Africa also supports possible, changed life cycle of a paper product. almost 150 000 jobs. to produce packaging This is why recycling is so Source: Paper Manufacturers grades of paper.” important: it keeps the carbon Association of South Africa
“We are definitely seeing a reduction in the use and thus recycling of office paper under lockdown.” – Jane Molony, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PAMSA
Fast fact
DID YOU KNOW?
PAMSA is working on the beneficiation of waste – paper sludge. It can be used in compost, in bricks and as a cap for landfill sites. It is also possible to make ethanol from paper sludge and it can be used in anaerobic digesters to produce energy. Source: PAMSA
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ore than 12 million tonnes of waste paper and packaging have been recovered in SA over the past decade, diverting it from landfills. In 2019, South Africa collected 68.5 per cent of recoverable paper and packaging, down from 71.7 per cent in 2018. “This is largely due to the nature of a waste economy,” explains Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa executive director Jane Molony. “Products are not produced especially for recycling; they are a byproduct of a healthy consumer demand and economy. The industry was able to use 90 per cent of its recovered waste paper locally by recycling it, with the balance exported, even though the local industry can generally use all the waste paper. The exchange rate encourages the export of waste paper.” Molony says that much research is being undertaken to improve the recovery and recyclability of multilayer papers like beverage cartons and paper cups, which would improve access to more fibre. “This fibre is also ‘virgin’ and thus could provide a recycling mill with consistent raw material. A cardboard box, for instance, may contain fibres that are on their first recycle and final recycle.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Over 1.2 million tonnes of paper was recovered for recycling in South Africa in 2019 – just under half the 2.43 million tonnes consumed in the country (just over 1.7 million tons of paper products was actually recovered, but some was unsuitable for recovery or used as corrugated box packaging). Source: Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa
