1 24.11.2015

How to Respond to Increasing Cost

Pressure in Recycling -

REFFIBRE Project

Tools for Resource-EFficient use

of recycled FIBRE materials

Ulla Forsström, VTT

European Paper Week 2015 Brussels

2 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

European Community’s Seventh

Framework Programme

Budget 4M€, funding from EC 2.8 M€

Duration of the project: 1.11.2013-31.10.2016

http://reffibre.eu

3 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Our finite resources drive a global change

Finite raw material resources

Limited energy availability

Increasing rate of consumption

Limited land resources for

landfilling and zero waste policy

4 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Design out waste

Optimise value chains

instead of processes

Switch to energy from

waste fractions

Keep the materials

at their highest value at all times

Implement circular material flows

and cascading business models

Bring your business to the next level

5 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

REFFIBRE – Main aims

Eco-design of resource efficient production chains of paper & packaging

materials requires modeling, calculation tools and knowledge.

1. Develop tools based on

Raw materials: Paper for recycling (PfR), and

Waste fractions from processing

Products: Paper, board and novel by-products

Process: Separation for Multi-product mill concept

2. Validate the results by several real-life demonstrations

6 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Impact

Improved conditions for eco-design for complete value chains of paper

and board industry, converting industry and end users.

Direct results at mills Impact

Better runnability.

Zero waste.

Waste converted to novel products.

Decrease overall waste production.

Improve resource efficiency.

Multiproduct mill concepts.

Novel products.

Increase competitiveness.

LCA methodologies for pulp and

paper applications, e.g., how to

allocate the burdens between

different life cycles.

Confirm with a standardized

methodology that the final impact

on the environment is reduced.

7 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Fibre Flow Model with 4 loops

Household &

Sanitary

Technical

Papers

Consumption &

collection

6 paper sectors Newspapers

Other Graphic Papers

Case Materials

Carton Board

Household & Sanitary

Technical Papers

Nearly all of H&S and

Technical Papers go to waste

Fibres migrate from one loop

to another

8 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Foreign trade of paper (Germany 2014)

40% from

countries with low

PfR utilization rate

(SE, FI)

13.15

22.53

11.00

20.38

9.38

58%

42%

46%

54%

Source: vdp Germany 2015

9 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Ash and Mean Fibre Age

Germany, The Netherlands and Austria; 2020 (Prediction)

Scenario “EU”

The work is unfinished and continues!

2020

PfR utilization rate of OGP production

in 2020 increases (~40%)

5 Ash Fibre Age

NP 16% 2,65OGP 26% 1,51CM 18% 3,41OP 22% 2,58Mixed 22% 2,32OCC 21% 2,74ONM 23% 1,84

Pa

pe

r

pro

du

cts

PfR

gra

de

s

2014

Ash Fibre Age

NP 21% 2,76OGP 30% 1,76CM 22% 3,58CB 25% 2,71Mixed 26% 2,51OCC 25% 2,91ONM 27% 2,05

Pa

pe

r

pro

du

cts

PfR

gra

de

s

10 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Why is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) important?

Risks of shifting the potential burdens between different life cycle stages or individual

processes can be recognized and possibly avoided by systematic overview (ISO 14040).

Sustainability of a product should be ensured already in the product development phase

(Eco-design).

Environmental assessment should be integrated into material and product development

already at an early stage.

11 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Handling recycling in LCA

Implications of recycling

Inherent properties of materials in subsequent use are changed

Inputs & Outputs are to be shared by more than one product system

in processes such as

Extraction & processing of raw materials

Final disposal of products

Solution: Apply an allocation factor

12 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

* http://www.paperage.com/2014news/Europe_Paper_Recycling_Monitoring_Report2013.pdf

Recycling in LCA studies – Allocation

Based on the European fibre flow model** and CEPI statistics

Germany, The Netherlands and Austria

Industry average*

vs.

An allocation factor can be based on the number of subsequent uses of the

recycled material. The work is unfinished and continues!

Which data of the number of uses should be used? 3.5 or something else?

5 Ash Fibre Age

NP 16% 2,65OGP 26% 1,51CM 18% 3,41OP 22% 2,58Mixed 22% 2,32OCC 21% 2,74ONM 23% 1,84

Pa

pe

r

pro

du

cts

PfR

gra

de

s

** http://reffibre.eu/events/reffibre-workshop-in-munich

13 24.11.2015

Landfilling : technology used mainly in past- resource recovery 0.0

Waste-to-energy: resource recovery 1.0

Amount of product is maximized, and waste is minimized.

Waste is expensive (landfill) or low value (incineration)

Situation today - Single product mills

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Side streams are turned into products.

New value chains are formed.

Side streams to products: resource recovery 2.0

Future – Multi-product mills

15 24.11.2015

Co-funded by

the European

Union

Acknowledgement

The research leading to these results has received funding from the

European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant

agreement n° 604187.

http://reffibre.eu

ulla.forsstrom@vtt.fi