Metsa Tissue's VP Production explores why recycled fiber use in tissue papers continues to decrease and more fresh fiber is used; recovered paper is less available amid decline in consumer paper, and recycled fiber needs more processing than fresh fiber

September 27, 2024 (press release) –

Have you kept track of how often the refuse collection vehicle visits your block of flats to empty the paper collection container? Or how often you drive to a recycling centre with a boot full of old magazines? Very rarely, probably, because households today order fewer and fewer newspapers and magazines. Just twenty years ago, you would dump a heavy bag full of paper into the recycling bin nearly every day.

Fewer and fewer ads are also being delivered to homes because online advertising is more effective. Office paper consumption has decreased, as offices are finally going paperless, and most documents are now processed electronically.

Instead of recycled papers, meaning recycled fibre, tissue papers are increasingly made from fresh fibre. This basically means pulp made from pure wood fibre instead of recycled paper.

According to VP Production Jarkko Lindroos, Metsä Group’s tissue paper mill in Mänttä uses both recycled and fresh fibre, but the use of recycled fibre is steadily decreasing.

“It’s a trend that has been going on for years. For example, all Lambi and Serla white products are now made from pure fresh fibre.”

Fresh fibre offers several benefits

Better availability is not the only reason for using fresh fibre, or pulp.

If you produce hygiene products, meaning toilet paper or household towels, from recycled fibre, you must take great care to remove any ink, impurities and staples from the raw material. Otherwise, the final product will not meet hygiene requirements.

At the de-inking plant where the recycled fibre is processed, water, electricity and chemicals are consumed in fibre purification.

“The de-inking plant is like a big washing machine: A lot of water is fed into the process, which requires large amounts of energy and chemicals to make the recycled fibres usable for hygiene products. The yield is nevertheless only around 60 per cent, meaning that 40 per cent of the raw material fed into the process is wasted,” Lindroos says.

When tissue paper is made from fresh wood fibre, there are fewer work steps because the fibre can be prosessed and used as such, just by adding water.

Moreover, when fibre is recycled, its properties deteriorate each time it is used. When a single fibre has been recycled 5–7 times, its quality has decreased so much that it can no longer be used. The quality of papers made from recycled fibre can be improved by adding fresh fibre to recycled fibre.

“You get the best quality when you buy products made entirely from fresh fibre,” Lindroos says.

A quality product pays off

It is also worth noting that recycled paper is sometimes transported over very long distances. If availability is a challenge, it may even have to be imported into Finland.

“As a rule of thumb, the further away the paper comes from, the worse its quality is,” Lindroos says.

The quality of the raw material is reflected in the quality of the end product. Not even good recycled fibre matches the quality of fresh fibre.

Tissue papers are used in kitchens and toilets, and if the quality is unsatisfactory, discerning consumers easily switch to another brand. When the hand towel is of high quality, one sheet is enough to dry your hands. If the paper is of a lower quality, you will be pulling sheet after sheet from the dispenser.

Lindroos believes that many users notice whether the paper is made of recycled or fresh fibre.

“There is a clear difference because the quality of products made from fresh fibre is notably higher.”

The bulk of trees become sawlogs

Forest companies are sometimes asked why it is worth felling old-growth forests to make paper.

The answer is that it isn’t. It is generally understood that old-growth forests should not be felled in the first place.

Metsä Group procures wood from sustainably managed Nordic commercial forests. Among other things, the company has drawn up regenerative forestry principles to ensure the state of forest nature does not deteriorate but strengthens. Metsä Group also considers it important that forests remain carbon sinks.

Even in commercial forests, large trees are cut down mainly to be sawed into boards and plywood veneer. The part of the tree that cannot be used at the sawmill is cooked to make pulp, which in turn is used in tissue papers, for example. The wood unsuitable for sawmills accounts for around a quarter of a large log. In addition, crowns and branches account for roughly a sixth.

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