As trade in recycled paper in China slows down, paper that western households intended to be recycled could be ending up in landfill.
Millions of European and American householders spend some time every week sifting their old newspapers from the rest of their waste and putting them aside for recycling. At some point a truck comes by, picks up the paper and moves on. What happens to it after that is a lot less clear – some people care, some do not. They have done what they are supposed to do as environmentally conscious citizens and are left to hope it is recycled in some way.
There are targets for paper recycling. To meet the requirements of the European commission, the European paper industry is aiming to recycle 66% of all paper products by 2010, and Europe reached 64.5% in 2007. The US paper industry has set a goal to recover for recycling 55% of all paper used by 2012.
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