In the traditional linear economy, products are made from raw materials and ultimately everything – the byproduct waste and the products themselves – ends up in the scrap heap. In contrast, an emerging concept is the circular economy in which products are made from recycled materials and end up being recycled themselves.
At a paper mill in Roermond in the Netherlands, they are taking the idea of the circular economy very seriously. The mill makes its brown packing paper exclusively from recycled and alternative fibers. It has redesigned its production process, its supply chain, and its waste disposal processes to minimize its environmental footprint.
For example, the plant trucks 24,000 gallons a week of phosphate produced as a waste product at a nearby baby-food factory to be processed in its anaerobic fermentation tanks. They also make us of discarded potato starch from nearby farms. The plant’s production processes create less than 2 pounds of solid waste for every ton of paper it produces and it uses less than a gallon of water to produce a kilogram of paper, which is less than 2% of the volume of water needed in conventional plants. By closing waste loops and taking advantage of recycled and unconventional materials, the plant has set new standards for efficiency.
The Roermond plant is an impressive example of what can be accomplished with a serious commitment to the circular economy. The plant’s customers are increasingly environmentally conscious and because of this, the plant’s success in sustainability has also led to financial success.
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The Circular Economy of Recycled Paper
Photo, posted March 21, 2014, courtesy of Zeronaut.be via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.