4. Discussion
Various LCA’s and waste management studies have been published
that discuss the trade-offs of recycling and other end-of-life
options for used paper. Although, in this study, we have not focused
on different waste management alternatives, findings are in-line
with most of these studies. Recycling is beneficial regarding CO2
emissions and (feedstock) energy use over the paper life-cycle.
Moreover, we found that the choice of system boundary has large
impacts on the results. Especially regarding the in- or exclusion
of surplus biomass that becomes available via increased recycling.
This study provides new insights with respect to the pulp and paper
production of a whole country and the relative impact of individual
paper grades. Therefore, we were able to find not only the differences
in paper grades but also the effects of recycling of different
paper grades and of a mix of paper grades.
It is important to emphasise that although we compared the
environmental impacts of three different types of pulp, we do not
intend to suggest that using one type of pulp is better over another
because:
- The choice for a certain type of pulp is above all affected by the
specific characteristics of the end-product. Not every type of pulp
is suited for every type of paper.
- The choice also depends on the feedstock availability. Where
some countries have abundant forests, other more densely popu