2019 Recycling Industry Yearbook

ISRI.ORG 37 0 5,000,000 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 metric tons Rest of World Taiwan Vietnam Canada South Korea Indonesia Mexico India China remains the largest export market for U.S. recovered fiber, but its buyers purchased 30% less scrap paper in 2018 than in 2017. Other significant and growing markets for U.S, recovered fiber are India, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Canada, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The grades of U.S. recovered fiber most in demand by overseas buyers changed from 2017 to 2018, in large part due to China’s import restrictions. Demand for pulp substitutes increased 49%, and OCC demand increased 27%. Seeing lower demand were news grades (down 31%) groundwood grades (down 29%) mixed paper (down 25%), and pulp derived from recovered paper (down 16%). TOP U.S. RECOVERED PAPER EXPORT MARKETS Source: U.S. Census Bureau/U.S. International Trade Commission The first-ever specification for a recyclable commodity was for linen rags, likely used in paper-making.