New target levels of recycled waste paper within newsprint have been agreed by the government, manufacturers and newspaper publishers.


The targets are: 60% recycled content by the end of 2001; 65% recycled content by the end of 2003; and 70% recycled content by the end of 2006.


They will be reviewed in 2001 and 2003, when additional factors will be taken into account, including the availability of extra reprocessing capacity, the growth in consumption of newsprint (currently about 2.5% per annum), and any uncompetitive pricing of recycled newsprint by newsprint suppliers.


The Pulp & Paper Information Centre audit for the second half of 1999 in the UK showed that the gross amount of waste paper used in newspapers as a total of newsprint consumed was 56.1%, rising to 55.4% for the whole year, while the amount of waste used in newsprint production as a proportion of total newsprint consumed by newspapers was 49.4% (47.5% for the whole year).


The initial target of achieving 40% waste paper in UK newspapers by 2000, set in 1991 by the government, was reached in 1996.


Story by Jeremy Allen