By Dr Ulla Forsström, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. This was presented during the Circular Economy info session, organised as part of European Paper Week 2015. More at http://www.cepi.org/epw

1. 124.11.2015
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. 224.11.2015
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. 324.11.2015
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. 424.11.2015
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. 524.11.2015
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. 624.11.2015
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. 724.11.2015
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. 824.11.2015
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. 924.11.2015
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% 2,65
OGP 26% 1,51
CM 18% 3,41
OP 22% 2,58
Mixed 22% 2,32
OCC 21% 2,74
ONM 23% 1,84
Paper
products
PfR
grades
2014
Ash Fibre Age
NP 21% 2,76
OGP 30% 1,76
CM 22% 3,58
CB 25% 2,71
Mixed 26% 2,51
OCC 25% 2,91
ONM 27% 2,05
Paper
products
PfR
grades

10. 1024.11.2015
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. 1124.11.2015
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. 1224.11.2015
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% 2,65
OGP 26% 1,51
CM 18% 3,41
OP 22% 2,58
Mixed 22% 2,32
OCC 21% 2,74
ONM 23% 1,84
Paper
products
PfR
grades
** http://reffibre.eu/events/reffibre-workshop-in-munich

13. 1324.11.2015
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

14. 1424.11.2015
Side streams are turned into products.
New value chains are formed.
Side streams to products: resource recovery 2.0
Future – Multi-product mills

15. 1524.11.2015
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