Origins of Waste Paper

• Pre-Consumer Waste -- Waste paper that originates from paper conversion plants. Mostly composed of unprinted, unused material.



• Post Consumer Waste -- Sources include manufacturing plants and various urban uses. This can be further broken down by individual paper grade:
  
  
  • Old Newsprint(ONP):
    The pie chart at left shows the 1996 figures for the potential supply of ONP grade paper in North America(Click thumbnail for larger image).{Iannazzi, F.D. and Clarke, R.E. Is the recovered paper goal out of reach? Rescource Recycling, Aug. 1998, pg. 1}. The table below shows estimates of newsprint papermill supply in North America.{Moore, B. Recovered paper supply impacts on recycle newsprint production. Preprints of 5th Research Forum on Recycling, Ottawa, Sept 1999, pg.75}.
    
    
    

    Source of ONP	Amount(%)
    Solid Waste Hauler	30
    Independent Packer	25
    Mill Captive Packer/Broker	20
    Local Government	15
    Industrial Generaters	5
    Independent Broker	5
    Supermarkets	0
    Commercial/Retail Generators	0

  
  
  
  • Old Corrugated Cardboard(OCC):
    Large stores such as supermarkets, retail outlets, and department stores provide bulk amounts of Old Corrugated Cardboard(OCC). The table below shows the current(as of 1998) and projected maximum recovery of OCC in the United States.{North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Rescources Paper:Old Corrugated Containers Commodity Profile p. 2}.
    
    

    Supply Segment	Current Recovery(%)	Projected Maximum(%)
    Pre-Consumer	90	95
    Manufacturing	70	75
    Large Retail/Commercial	81	83
    Small Retail/Commercial	70	77
    Residential	5	25

  
  
  
  • Various Office Paper Wastes(OWP, OMP, MOW, SOP):
    Intuitively, offices are the main source of various office paper wastes: Mixed Office Waste(MOW) or Office Mixed Paper(OMP), both of which are unsotrted waste grades, or the paper may be sorted to become Sorted Office Paper(SOP). This avenue of waste paper was an untapped rescource until the early 1990s. Below are figures of office paper use in the US from 1995 to 1999.{American Forest and Paper Association}.