Paper Recycling Archives - The Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC)

New StatsCan Data Shows Paper Represents Majority of Diverted Materials

Statistics Canada released the results of its biennial Waste Management Survey1, containing waste diversion data for 2022. PPEC’s latest blog breaks down the stats and discusses the importance of recycling data. The new data shows that Canadian households and businesses diverted 9,898,882 tonnes of waste in 2022, and of the total amount diverted, 3,571,384 tonnes […]

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Pitting Packaging Materials Against Each Other Misses the Bigger Picture

Circular Economy, Paper and Plastics Packaging, Paper Packaging / By Rachel Kagan

Recent media articles on the potential of paper packaging to replace some of the single-use plastic items being banned in Canada, such as shopping bags and take-out food containers, miss the bigger picture of waste management and consumption in Canada. Some articles have shared concerns raised by some environmentalists about shifting from plastic to paper packaging

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Paper-based Packaging Leads the Way for Ontario’s Household Blue Box Program

Blue Box, Circular Economy, Paper and Plastics Packaging, Paper Recycling, Recycling / By Rachel Kagan

Paper-based packaging continues to be a success story in Ontario\’s household Blue Box program, as measured by marketed tonnage, based on new data released by the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), the regulator mandated by the Government of Ontario to enforce the province’s circular economy laws. RPRA’s new Datacall Report summarizes information generated by the 246 programs participating

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Article Overlooks the Importance of Recycled Content

Circular Economy, Corrugated Boxes, Paper Packaging, Paper Recycling, Recyclable, Recycled Content, Recycling, Sustainable Forest Management / By Rachel Kagan

In the November 28th New York Times Magazine article, Where Does All the Cardboard Come From? I Had to Know, writer Matthew Shaer does a deep dive on what he refers to as the “cardboard economy” – everything from the history of who invented it, how it’s made, and its global marketplace.

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Statistics Canada’s New Waste Management Survey Results: Paper Represents 35% of Diversion

Circular Economy, Industry News, Waste Diversion / By Rachel Kagan

On November 15, 2022, Statistics Canada released the results of its biennial Waste Management Survey, containing waste diversion data for 2020, broken down by material type and diversion source (residential and non-residential). The new data shows that Canadian households and businesses diverted 9,903,027 tonnes of waste in 2020, and of the total amount diverted, 3,502,683 tonnes were

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How Does Canada’s Ban on Single-Use Plastics Impact Paper Packaging?

Paper Packaging, Plastics / By Rachel Kagan

There have been a lot of recent developments related to Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Agenda and the federal government’s ban on single-use plastic products, which is why it is a perfect time to share this blog examining some of the latest news, key activities, and the potential impacts on the paper packaging industry. Ban on single-use plastic

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Government Amends Ontario Blue Box Regulation

Blue Box, Ontario Government, Paper Packaging, Paper Recycling / By Rachel Kagan

The Government of Ontario made amendments to the Blue Box Regulation, which came into effect on April 14, 2022. The amendments do not change the original intention of the regulation – to transition the existing Ontario Blue Box model from a shared funding model to a full producer responsibility model – and do not impact

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Ontario Blue Box recovery rate slips, but paper steady

Blue Box, Paper Packaging, Paper Recycling / By John Mullinder

The reported recovery rate of Ontario’s residential Blue Box system has fallen to its lowest level since 2005. The draft recovery rates, to be finalised by Stewardship Ontario in December, show a 2016 recovery rate of 62.4%, down 2% on the previous year. This will make the recent “request” by Ontario’s minister of environment and

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Circular Economy or spinning our wheels?

Paper Packaging, Waste Diversion, Waste Strategy / By John Mullinder

The Circular Economy (CE to some) has become something of a buzzword of late, just like sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) before it. Good intentions, but a lot of public relations too. Perhaps we’re being too cynical, but the issue is a bit like climate change. We know it’s coming (most of us) or

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China doesn’t want the world’s garbage any more

2 Comments / Corrugated Boxes, Paper Packaging, Paper Recycling / By John Mullinder

And who can blame them? For years, the world has been shipping all sorts of waste to China for it to be sorted, made into new products, and shipped back to us. Low labour rates and lax environmental enforcement have benefitted all parties to this commercial deal (even perhaps the Chinese workers, a job being

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