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The American Forest & Paper Association’s (AF&PA) 2014 Community Access Survey shows that overall consumer access to community paper and paperboard recycling in the U.S. reached 96 percent, up from 87 percent in 2010. The survey evaluated 12 separate grades of paper and paperboard, which all showed access increases. Access for 9 of the 12 grades is now at or above 90 percent. The executive summary of the survey is available at: http://paperrecycles.org/sustainability/2014-af-pa-community-access-survey “Access to paper recycling in the U.S. continues to increase – which helps to recover valuable resources, extend the useful life of fiber and make new products,” said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. “In addition, we’re pleased to see significant increases in access to recycling for different paper grades.” The survey results also showed that single-stream recovery has grown in use. Eighty percent of Americans now have access to single-stream collection, a rise from 65 percent in 2010.

The difference between people’s perception of the impact of paper on the environment and fact has been highlighted in a groundbreaking study by Two Sides Of all the world’s materials, paper is perhaps the most misunderstood. While no one doubts the environmental damage the burning of fossil fuels and disposal of single-use plastics is doing to the planet, there’s still a lot of confusion around paper and how its use affects the climate. To counter the many misconceptions about print and paper, and its impact on the environment, Two Sides commissioned a wide-ranging European study to assess people’s perceptions of paper and the often large differences between these perceptions and fact. Not only did the study uncover a series of common misconceptions about paper, but it underlined the enduring value paper and print has in a society increasingly dominated by digital media. Click Read More below for additional information.

Metsä Board, the leading European producer of premium fresh fibre paperboards and part of Metsä Group, has started a rapids fishery restoration project together with WWF Finland and the local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. Construction work at Mämmenkoski, located in Äänekoski in Central Finland, began in early May and will take a month to complete. The aim of the restoration is to make it possible for fish to naturally migrate from Lake Kuhnamo to Lake Ala-Keitele. In addition, it is hoped that it will re-establish the possibility of natural fry production of lake trout in the rapids. The restoration project will open two existing dams to remove obstacles from the fish migration route. The riverbed will be restored into a natural migration route and spawning areas will be formed to enable natural fry production of the trout. The project has been developed in cooperation with the local fishery community.