Reciclaje. Papel y cartón | Recycling. Paper and cardboard FuturEnviro | Octubre October 2019 www.futurenviro.es 35 Hace ahora dos años que los ponentes del citado congreso hicieron saltar la voz de alarma sobre el excedente europeo de este material, que asciende anualmente a cerca de ocho millones de toneladas, y lanzaban un mensaje inequívoco sobre la urgencia de tomar medidas al respecto. Sin embargo, desde que en verano de 2017 varios países como China pusieran en marcha políticas restrictivas a la importación de papel recuperado, alterándose con ello el equilibrio global entre oferta y demanda, la respuesta de nuestros dirigentes políticos ha consistido en hacer oídos sordos, a la espera de que el mercado corrigiera por sí solo esta sobreoferta. ¿Cuáles han sido las graves consecuencias de esta parálisis continuada en el proceso de toma de decisiones? Principalmente dos. La primera, el actual desplome sin precedentes del valor del material de cerca del 45% con respecto al tercer trimestre de 2017. La segunda, relacionada con las dificultades de encontrar demanda del material recuperado por nuestras empresas, ha consistido en situar al límite la capacidad de almacenamiento de nuestras plantas. Si el pasado mes de julio Repacar informaba a través de un comunicado de prensa sobre la crítica situación que atravesaban las empresas del sector, hace apenas unas semanas la Asociación Europea de Papel Recuperado (ERPA) mostraba con cifras la evolución del mercado de papel recuperado y proponía medidas urgentes para apoyar al reciclaje de papel en Europa. Según las estadísticas más recientes, en Europa se recogieron en 2018 más de 58,6 millones de toneladas de papel recuperado para reintroducirlo en el ciclo productivo. De ellas, más de 48,5 millones de toneladas fueron utilizadas para producir papel dentro de la Eurozona. Por tanto, existe una brecha entre la oferta y la demanda de 8 millones de toneladas que no podrán ser consumidas en nuestro mercado; este exceso de oferta es estructural, ocurre desde hace más de 10 años, y por otro lado, demuestra que nuestros sistemas de recogida destacan por su eficiencia. Pese a ello, todavía existe un amplio margen de mejora en la implementación del sistema de recogida selectiva, principalmente en la calidad del material recuperado y en su adaptación a los cambios en la producción de los residuos por parte de los ciudadanos. La situación, lejos de solucionarse, no ha hecho sino empeorar desde entonces por las medidas restrictivas adoptadas por otros países como Malasia o Indonesia, lo que deja sin mercado a ese excedente de papel recuperado. Two years ago, presenters at the ninth edition of the Repacar Congress raised the alarm with respect to the European recovered paper surplus, which has risen to eight million tonnes per annum. At that time, a clear message was sent regarding the urgent need to take measures to deal with the situation. However, since the summer of 2017, when several countries, including China, implemented restrictions on recovered paper imports, thereby disturbing the global balance between supply and demand, politicians have turned a deaf ear, in the hope that this oversupply would correct Itself.What have been the serious consequences of this ongoing paralysis in the decision-making process? Mainly two. The first is that the value of this material has approximately plummeted by an unprecedented 45% with respect to the first quarter of 2017. The second is that the storage capacity of our plants is at its limit, due to the difficulties associated with the demand for the material recovered by our companies. Last July, Repacar issued a press release on the critical situation of companies in the sector and, just a few weeks ago, the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA) released figures illustrating trends in the recovered paper market and proposed urgent measures to support paper recycling in Europe. The most recent statistics show that over 58.6 million tonnes of recovered paper were collected and returned to the production cycle in Europe in 2018. Of this quantity, 48.5 million tonnes were used to produce paper within the Eurozone. There is, therefore, a gap between supply and demand of 8 million tonnes, which cannot be consumed in our market. The surplus supply is structural and this has been the case for over 10 years. In addition, it shows that our collection systems are outstanding in terms of efficiency. Despite this, there is still a wide margin for improvement in the implementation of the selective collection system, mainly in terms of the quality of the material recovered but also with respect to adapting the system to changes in waste production trends amongst citizens. The situation, far from being solved, has only worsened since then due to restrictive measures adopted by other countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which has deprived this recovered paper surplus of a market. As the ERPA has pointed out, the European recycling industry cannot withstand such market conditions for a third consecutive year, conditions which are exacerbated by regulatory barriers, which need to be urgently addressed. Above and beyond the impact on the waste management and recycling industry, extremely low prices are jeopardising the entire paper collection system. What is the sector demanding to ensure that this exemplary waste management model does not die of success? Firstly, that the political classes pay genuine attention to the problem so that solutions can be gradually found in due time and not when the situation becomes critical. Secondly, a series of measures are urgently required, not just to highlight the decisive contribution of paper and board recovery companies to the circular economy PAPEL RECUPERADO: HISTORIA DE UNA CRISIS ANUNCIADA Con la conclusión del 11º Congreso de Repacar, cobran ahora desgraciadamente plena actualidad los pronósticos que se realizaron en la novena edición del mayor evento nacional sobre reciclaje y recuperación de papel y cartón. RECOVERED PAPER: STORY OF A FORESEEABLE CRISIS Now that the 11th Repacar Congress has concluded, it is clear that the forecasts made at the ninth edition of Spain’s most leading paper and cardboard recycling and recovery events have, unfortunately, become a reality.
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