Moving out of the booster seat - Welcome; recycling

Recycling Today, Oct, 2003 by Brian Taylor

Considering the status of "buy-recycled" programs was something that, I must admit, I had not done recently, until asked to do so by a recent caller.

The caller, doing some research for a presentation, asked whether such programs are helping sustain markets for secondary commodities. My response--which can certainly be debated by readers of this introduction--was that, increasingly, purchasing managers and individual heads of household are "buying recycled" without being aware of it. Certainly this has been the case with metals for some time, as few consumers consider whether the steel in their file cabinets or the aluminum in their beverage cans has been created from scrap materials.

But not that long ago, scrap paper markets were considered to be in dire need of such support, and consumer and office products companies faced a weighty decision as to whether the placement of a chasing arrows logo on the package would create quality doubts or be embraced for environmental friendliness.

Decisions are still being made today weighing these factors, but they would seem to be less agonizing, as acceptance of scrap paper-based pulp and paper has grown in market share.

Certainly there are still some visible finished paper products, such as office copier paper and magazine printing stock (we must sheepishly admit), where recycled-content products must fight to offer an affordable, equivalent-quality product.

But it is not far-fetched to argue that scrap paper markets will be just fine even if they occasionally finish second in such battles. As an example, the maker of a new breakfast cereal might pack its product in 1 million 100 percent-recycled-content paperboard boxes, shipped inside more than 40,000 largely recycled-content corrugated boxes. That being the case, if a few hundred press releases announcing the new product go out on office paper made from virgin material, which market is faring better?

Such a conclusion should not lead to complacency for paper recyclers, who no doubt will be reminded that their work cannot be taken for granted the next time prices take a dive or a mill downgrades a shipment because of quality concerns.

But it should at least cause a momentary thought that recycling is here to stay even if "booster" purchasing programs fade away.