3 minute read
Paper and packaging
PRESERVING THE FOREST
The paper and pulp industry is committed to sustainability of forests and never takes out more than it replaces. By Tr evor Crig hto n
Jane Molony
The South African forestry industry locked up for longer.” The sector prides itself has a staggering 840 million trees on environmental stewardship, with a focus on planted over 693 000 hectares for pulp carbon sequestration, water-efficiency, the and paper production. In South Africa, use of renewable biomass-based energy and paper is produced from sustained steam recovery. Molony says that the trees forestry, where trees are grown in rotation with grown by the industry are grown especially for only six per cent of the total area harvested fibre (pulp and paper) and timber (sawmilling). each year. Felled areas are replanted, and “Eighty per cent of our country’s plantations there are thousands of hectares of trees of are Forest Stewardship Council certified. different ages growing all the time. Farmed We are proud of the fact that 25 per cent of trees are also not irrigated, drawing their water the land allocated to plantations is set aside from rainfall and groundwater sources. for biodiversity, and that some of the bestmanaged wetlands are owned by forest and forest product companies.” “We are definitely seeing a reduction in the use and thus All paper made in South Africa comes from either virgin fibre of sustainably managed plantations or recycled paper fibre, recycling of office paper under or a combination of the two. Some mills lockdown.” – Jane Molony, use bagasse, the waste from sugarcane EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PAMSA processing. “We can meet our domestic needs for A4 copier paper, newsprint, toilet tissue and most packaging grades,” says ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Molony. “There are certain grades “We often say that trees don’t grow that are not made locally from the ground; they grow from the air, absorbing carbon Fas t fa ct any more such as coated stocks for magazines, dioxide, storing the carbon The pulp and paper sector brochures and and releasing the oxygen,” contributed R24.13-billion high-end printing. says Jane Molony, executive (0.53 per cent) to local GDP in With the decline in director of the Paper 2019 and R6.63-billion to the South demand, the mills Manufacturers Association African balance of trade, while the or paper machines of South Africa (PAMSA). forestry-to-paper contribution to producing these “This carbon remains locked agricultural GDP is 25.22 per cent. grades closed up in the fibre, through the The forest-products industry in down and, where life cycle of a paper product. South Africa also supports possible, changed This is why recycling is so almost 150 000 jobs. to produce packaging important: it keeps the carbon Source: Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa grades of paper.”
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.
THE PRODUCT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
More 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.”
