The material that is more recycled

Each Spanish uses 176 kilos of paper per year in more than 300 applications related to education, culture, art, communication, trade, hygiene or health. Of those 176, 114 kilos are recovered through the municipal separate collection (blue container, clean points and collected put door in the small Commerce and offices) and the industrial collection (large areas of distribution, printing houses, companies, etc.) and sent to paper factories that buy this used paper for recycling.

Data from the first nine months of 2007, with growth of 6.7 per cent, pointing to a new record in the recycling of paper and cardboard, which last year had already exceeded the 4.6 billion kilos of paper. In this period already have been recovered and recycled 3.751 billion kilograms of waste paper, so it does not seem unattainable to reach 5 billion pounds in 2007, according to data from Aspapel (Spanish Association of manufacturers of Pasta)(Paper and cardboard).

Recovery of paper in the past ten years it has more than doubled, from 2.1 billion pounds in 1996 to the more than 4.6 billion kilos collected and recycled in 2006 and the close to 5,000 planned for 2007. In relative terms, the growth was also important. If in 1997, 42 per cent of the role that was consumed, with the data of the first nine months of 2007 was recovering for recycling the percentage is close to 65 per cent.

The record for municipal separate collection of paper and cardboard for recycling, through the blue container, door to door in small businesses and offices, and clean points, it holds Navarre which, with 46,36 kilos per inhabitant, stands at more than twice the national average (20,89). They also exceed this Balearic average, Basque country, Catalonia, La Rioja, Asturias, Madrid, Ceuta and Cantabria.

These record numbers are Spain already in the EU average (64%) and is close to the countries in which the recovery has more tradition as Switzerland with a 77,2 percent or Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Austriathat they are also above 70 percent.

In addition, at Christmas (December and January) there is an increase of the collection of paper and cardboard for recycling around 10 percent from the average. So it refers to the role and domestic cardboard that is collected through blue bins, the increase is concentrated in two 'days tip' (Christmas and Kings), which are also public holidays. Councils double and even triple collection at this time to be giving out the concentration of recovered paper in exceptional way occurring in those days tip.

'Your role is important' is a project designed by Aspapel to contribute to sustainable development through the continuous improvement of the recovery of paper and cardboard, boosting the blue containers collection and developing complementary formulas in the areas in which margins of improvement have been identified: mainly in offices and schools, small businesses and homes.

Within this project highlights the line of action in municipalities: 'Your paper 21', a system of diagnosis, implementation of improvements and certification of the municipal separate collection of paper and cardboard, 21 indicators-based and supported by models of social participation and communication, in line with the guidelines of Agenda 21. Currently are 12 municipalities of all Spain that have been certified and more than 60 people are in process of certification and implementation of improvements.

The program has received the European Paper Recycling Award, granted by the European Council of the recovered paper, is an annual award that distinguishes initiatives of NGOs, local authorities, industries, schools, etc., who develop innovative projects to promote the recycling of paper in EuropeRecognizing the efforts of the promoters of pioneering and with the aim of stimulating the dissemination and implementation of these good innovative practices, contributing to a more sustainable Europe. The jury is a panel of independent experts from all over Europe, which includes representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, associations (ACR + - Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management) and NGOs (WWF International).

Paper Forum, composed of associations of the chain of the paper, communication platform has launched a campaign called ' thanks role ' to optimize the image of this natural, renewable and recyclable materials and to highlight the many especially ecological benefits of this natural material and the countless applicationsrenewable and recyclable. It's a campaign of free use, which is available at www.graciaspapel.es, so that any means of communication, person or organization interested in the world of the paper you can download the original for its use and dissemination.

The Spanish campaign was inspired by an initiative launched with great success in the Netherlands.

The paper is manufactured with fiber of cellulose from plantations of fast growth (pine and eucalyptus) species intended for this purpose and which otherwise would not exist, so it is not true that recycled paper saves trees. But the recycling of paper does allow reducing landfill and emissions they produce.

Currently in Spain, thanks to the paper work, there are some 400,000 hectares of forest plantations (2 per cent of the total wooded area). According to the latest report of the United Nations (Unece-Fao) on the situation of the forests in the world, the Spanish forests are among those who grow and have gone to 13.5 million hectares in 1990 to 16.4 million hectares in 2000 and 17.9 million hectares in 2005.

At the moment in that both are concerned about climate change and its consequences, it is important to know that the paper is a store of CO2: a kilo of paper stored 1.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, trees use sunlight, water and the CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere to feed and grow. This carbon dioxide that fast-growing trees absorb, is stored in the role.

4.6 Million tons of waste paper are recycled each year represent a saving of surface in landfill equivalent to more than 45 large football as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou stadiums, filled up above, and avoid the emission in dump of 4.1 million tons of CO2 (more than 1 per cent of the total emissions) (that produces the country).

What happens after the blue contender?

Waste paper recovered for recycling through the industrial collection, and the municipal collection. The industrial collection is which is carried out in companies, publishers and printers and department stores. Municipal collection is performed through the container blue for the role of households, through collecting 'door-to-door' small shops, and the collections in offices, schools, buildings of public institutions.

The recovery industry collects waste paper and what conditions through highly mechanized processes of cleaning, sorting and packaging. The Reclaimers classified all this material from as diverse sources in more than 50 grades, according to the specifications of the European list of standard grades of paper and cardboard recovered (Norm UNE-EN 643). And then returns to the papermaking factories, who buy this paper used to turn it into new paper.

The Spanish paper industry ensures the recycling of all paper and cardboard that it settles in the blue container and is a leader in recycling in the EU: for every 10 kilos of paper manufactures used 8.5 kilograms of waste paper as raw.