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Environmental efforts made by the Japanese paper industry

Concept for Paper Recycling | Target of 65% of Recovered Paper Utilization RateConcept for Paper Recycling | Target of 65% of Recovered Paper Utilization Rate

65% of recovered paper utilization rate is the new target for “Japan, a paper recycling country”

To help build a recycling-based society, the Japan Paper Association (JPA) set a target of “55% of recovered paper utilization rate by FY1994” in 1990. Since then, the targets have been met and revised a number of times along with the continued efforts to increase the recovered paper utilization rate.
In 2016, JPA set the target of "achieving 65% of recovered paper utilization rate by fiscal 2020 (Ending March 31, 2021)." In fiscal 2020, the recovered paper utilization rate exceeded 67%, and we achieved the target. The background of the higher utilization rate in the fiscal 2020 is the exceptional circumstance of the impact of the COVID-19 infection.
Paper and paperboard demand decreased due to the economic downturn caused by the spread of the COVID-19 infection. Among them, compared to paperboard, which has a high utilization rate of recovered paper, the rate of decrease in demand for paper grades, mainly printing and communication paper which mainly uses wood pulp as raw material, was large, and as a result, recovered paper utilization rate exceeded 65%.

Because the utilization rate had remained at the 64% level in the recent years before 2020, and the technology of recovered paper utilization in the Japanese paper industry is already at the highest level in the world, it is difficult to significantly improve the utilization rate. On the other hand, the use of recovered paper is a social challenge to continuously improve for building a recycling-based society, and JPA recognizes that it is a societal responsibility for the industry to set the industry-whole target and work to improve the recovered paper utilization.
Under such recognition, JPA formulated a new target of "achieving a 65% of recovered paper utilization rate by fiscal 2025 ending March 31, 2026", which maintains the current 65% target, and work to surely achieve the target.

Japan’s recovered paper utilization rate is one of the highest in the world. Even though the increment of one percentage point may appear small, in reality, it is not an easy task to raise the already high world-class ratio of paper recycling. Energetic all-out efforts involving not just the paper industry and the recovered paper industry but also the consumers, industrial users, and municipal governments are a must. More specifically, the Japanese paper industry will exert best efforts in expanding the use of recovered paper as raw material for paper grades such as printing and communication paper, securing the raw material such as office paper and reducing the CO2 emissions from the recycling process through energy saving and fuel conversion measures.

Recovered paper utilization rate and recovery rate in Japan

For more information about JPA’s FY 2025 target of recovered paper utilization rate (Japanese)