Recycling futures: Market prospects for waste paper in the EEC, 1980–1990

Abstract

Future prospects for recycling activities, and in particular for waste-paper utilisation are analysed in the light of the recent prolonged recession in the international economic system. The notion of the “socially” optimal balance between recycling and disposal is explored and used to illuminate potential future public policies concerning recycling. An input-output forecasting model is developed and calibrated in order to forecast EEC waste-paper consumption levels over the period to 1990. The model predicts that waste-paper consumption levels are unlikely to rise dramatically over the forecast period, and that the economic fortunes of the EEC waste-paper industry will continue to be primarily (though not exclusively) dependent on the health of the packaging sectors of the EEC paper and board industries.