The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) shares the reasons why paper is good for us, our economy and our environment.

1. It’s versatile

Paper is categorised into three principal types – printing and writing, packaging and tissue – and chances are that we use each kind every day.

Paper in its most common form – white copy paper – could be the start of something, a blank canvas, a new project or design, your first book. A variety of printing and writing papers help to communicate and inform through news and advertising, the label on the coffee jar, the medicine box insert and the month-end supermarket specials. Paper also educates – from your child’s first reader to their last matric exam.

Paper packages and protects. From our eggs, teabags and cereal, milk and juice in cartons, to medicine and cosmetics. And let’s not forget that new computer equipment for the office or your online shopping order.

From the bestseller of your favourite author to a night at the movies with popcorn, a drink and a box of chocolates, paper entertains.

Facial and toilet tissue, kitchen towel and baby and feminine products help to improve our lives through convenience and hygiene.

2. It’s renewable

In South Africa, paper is produced from farmed trees. Some 850 million trees are grown over 676,000 hectares for the very purpose of making pulp and paper.

“If it wasn’t for commercially grown trees, our indigenous forests would have been eradicated years ago to meet our fibre, fuel and furniture needs,” explains PAMSA executive director Jane Molony. “Sustainable, commercial forests have a vital role to play in curbing deforestation and mitigating climate change.”

As with most agricultural crops, trees are planted in rotation. Once mature – after seven to 11 years, they are harvested. However, only 9-10% of the total plantation area is felled annually. New saplings are planted in the same year, at an average rate of 320,000 new trees per day, or one-and-a-half saplings per harvested tree. This is what makes the paper we source from wood renewable.

3. It’s recyclable

Recovered paper – the paper and cardboard from our recycling bins – is a valuable raw material and South Africa has been using it as an alternative fibre in papermaking since 1920.

Given that land suitable for the commercial growing of trees is limited, virgin fibre is supplemented with recovered paper. On the other hand, an injection of virgin fibre is also needed in the papermaking process because paper fibres shorten and weaken each time they are recycled.

In 2019, 68.5% of recoverable paper was collected for recycling – recoverable paper excludes the likes of books and archived records, and items that are contaminated or destroyed when used, like tissue hygiene products and cigarette paper.

4.  It’s good for the environment

Working forests provide clean air, clean water and the managed conservation of wetlands, grasslands and biodiversity.

Farmed trees are efficient carbon sinks. Every year, South Africa’s commercial forests are estimated to capture 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases, in turn releasing 15 million tonnes of life-giving oxygen…. Memory jog back to that primary school science lesson on photosynthesis.

The carbon remains locked up even after the wood is chipped, pulped and made into the many items we use every day. This is a good reason to recycle as it keeps this carbon locked up for even longer. Sent to landfill, paper will naturally degrade along with wet waste and add to unnecessary emissions.

Recycling is a space saver too: one tonne of paper saves three cubic metres of landfill space – and the associated costs. The 1.2 million tonnes of recyclable paper and paper packaging diverted from landfill in 2019.

1.2 million tonnes of recyclable paper products diverted from landfill during 2019, if baled, would stretch 1 400km if the bales were laid end to end, fill 1 442 Olympic swimming pools or cover 219 soccer pitches. More importantly, this recovered paper saved 3.6 million cubic metres of landfill space.

5.         It’s good for the economy

Not only does pulp and paper production add billions to the South African economy annually, the growing and harvesting of trees, the making of paper products and recycling them provides sustainable jobs for thousands of people.

Let’s not forget the jobs of engineers and researchers who design advanced technologies and processes that make pulping, papermaking and paper recycling more energy and water-efficient, and the artisans and operators that keep paper production moving.

Add to this the downstream value chains which rely on paper to produce their products, including printing and publishing, media, and advertising, and the myriad sectors which use paper-based packaging to protect their goods during transit.

Any which way you look at it, paper, tissue and paper-based packaging are essential, and this is a good thing – for our economy and for our environment,” says Molony. “Invented some 2,000 years ago, paper is one of the oldest ‘technologies’ with research, development and innovation continuing the world over to make more efficient use of trees, recycled paper, water and energy. Paper is a great story.

Paper is versatile – it\’s used in boxes, notebooks and tissue.

Paper is renewable, as it\’s made from the wood fibre of farmed trees.

Paper is recyclable, and we can make loads of new products with old paper.

Paper is good for the environment as working forests provide clean air, clean water and many environmental services such as biodiversity and wetland conservation.

Paper is good for the economy through the provision of jobs and contributing significantly to the GDP.

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The uMfolozi Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College,  Fibre Processing and Manufacturing (FP&M) Seta and the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) open Pulp and Paper Centre of Excellence

On Thursday, 31 August  2017 the uMfolozi TVET College, the FP&M Seta and the Paper Manufacturing Association of South Africa hosted the official opening of the Pulp and Paper Centre of Excellence in Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal.

The facility will function primarily as a hub for local Pulp and Paper industry initiatives and as a central point for industry employees enrolled in the Pulp and Paper Occupational Programme (PPOP). It will not only serve as an ideal training venue but will provide space for study groups, seminars and meetings.

College deputy-principal Elsie du Toit described how the centre had been born out of efforts to deliver development opportunities for all involved in the paper industry. This includes, in particular, PPOP participants wishing to study further in their respective fields. Describing the project as a ‘true example of partnership between training institution and industry’, she outlined  some of the activities it will facilitate.

These include the research, workplace integrated learning, the administration and management of the PPOP, stakeholder liaison, academic support, and a platform to build partnerships with other TVET colleges and academic institutions.

FP&M Seta CEO Felleng Yende told the gathering that the centre would serve as focus point for PPOP projects which have already been funded to the tune of R3.25 million since 2015.

“Today I can proudly say that more than 300 people have registered and are training to receive the National [Vocational] Certificate in Pulp and Paper.”

She went on to say that despite the advent of the digital era, paper still plays a major role in our daily lives. “For decades, the paper manufacturing industry has contributed greatly to South Africa’s economy, and having been ranked as one of the largest producers of pulp and paper in the world, this industry continues to benefit our people tremendously.”

Ursula Henneberry, operations director of the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (RecyclePaperZA), reiterated the importance of education, not only for individual development but for the economy and society as a whole.

“The Pulp and Paper Centre of Excellence showcases collaboration, partnership and the goal of excellence in education and makes access to education for current and future industry employees easier. It gives them a place to learn, to grow and to excel.“

The ever growing importance of recycling as a supplier of fibre to the paper-making industry is underlined by the fact that The Paper Recycling Association Of South Africa (RecyclePaperZA) has trained more than 5,000 people through its entrepreneurship courses and enjoys the full collaboration and support of the FP&M Seta.

The Paper Recycling Association Of South Africa

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South Africa successfully diverted 1.4 million tonnes of recyclable paper and paper packaging from landfill in 2016. This is equivalent to the weight of 280,000 adult African elephants or would cover 254 soccer fields.

The Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (RecyclePaperZA) confirms that the annual paper recovery rate has sustained 2% year-on-year growth since 2012 and now stands at 68.4%[i].

“This surpasses the global average of 58%[ii],” says RecyclePaperZA operations director Ursula Henneberry, adding that recovered paper – the paper and cardboard put in our recycling bins – is a valuable raw material that South African manufacturers have been using as an alternative fibre since 1920.

“Despite this, newspapers, magazines, office paper, cardboard boxes, paper cups, milk and juice cartons still go to landfill,” says Henneberry.

Waste less, care more

Around 11% of people claim to recycle all the time[iii]. “Everyone uses paper products, so we should all be recyclers. It’s just the right thing to do.” It’s good for the environment. It saves landfill space, reduces unnecessary emissions and encourages a waste-conscious lifestyle. It’s good for our economy too, as it provides an income stream for street collectors and keeps paper recycling operations in business with a clean and good quality raw material to make the products we use daily.

From street collectors to the people employed in the sector, paper recycling creates meaningful employment for around 37,000 people.

Recycling is as easy as 1-2-3

While it may seem cumbersome at first, it only takes a little effort to develop ‘good garbage habits’. RecyclePaperZA shares three important tips:

1. Keep paper separate from wet waste – get a bin or box for paper and keep it in a convenient spot.
2. Get to know your recyclables – copy paper, magazines, flyers and newspapers; cereal, medicine and egg boxes, cardboard boxes and juice and milk cartons are all recyclable.
3. Have it collected or drop it off – support a collector, sign-up to a collection programme or find a drop-off point near you. Visit recyclepaper.co.za and click on the MyWaste widget on the home page.

Notes:

Given that land suitable for the commercial growing of trees is limited, virgin/new fibre is supplemented with recovered paper. On the other hand, an injection of virgin fibre is needed in the papermaking process because paper fibres shorten and weaken each time they are recycled.

The Paper Recycling Association of South Africa promotes paper recycling by increasing education and awareness on the recovery of paper and packaging materials reused in the manufacture of paper-based products. It works with community-based organisations, schools and businesses to share recycling’s many societal and environmental benefits. These include job creation, poverty alleviation, the creation of a clean, more sustainable environment and reduced costs to local authorities.

[i] 68.4% represents the percentage of paper products that can be recovered and excludes the likes of books and archived records, and items that are contaminated or destroyed when used; tissue, hygiene products and cigarette paper.

In 2001, the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (RecyclePaperZA) reported a 38% paper recovery rate, a figure that rose to 59% in 2011. The association had projected paper recycling rates would rise to 63% by the end of 2017. By 2016 the paper and paper packaging industry well exceeded this with its 2015 figure of 66% of the nation’s recoverable paper and cardboard being recycled into new paper products.

[ii] International Council of Forest and Paper Associations, 2015

[iii] Consumer research conducted by PETC0, 2016

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“According a 2010 study[i] by the University of Stellenbosch, the cost of functional illiteracy[ii] to South Africa’s economy in unrealised GDP is estimated at R550 billion annually,” says Jane Molony, executive director of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) and chairperson of the South African Book Development Council (SADBC).

A study conducted by the SADBC in 2007, which focused on the reading habits of adult South Africans, showed that only 14% of the country’s people are avid book readers and a mere 5% of parents read to their children. The survey also indicated that 51% of households in South Africa did not have a single book in their home.

“Without a culture of reading, you don’t learn. Without learning, you don’t have knowledge. Without knowledge, you cannot participate in the economy,” says Molony, adding that the access to books is the first key to unlocking literacy development.

Research has shown that paper-based materials promote reading comprehension, information retention and learning, and that print-based texts are superior to digital texts in facilitating learning strategies.

The ICFPA represents more than 30 national forest and paper associations around the world, including PAMSA. Together, ICFPA members account for more than 90% of the world’s paper and more than half of global wood production.

For more information about the sustainability of the forest and paper industry, visit icfpa.org.

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