The Awarding Ceremony of the 7th Edition of the European Paper Recycling Awards took place in the European Parliament in Brussels on January 21 2020.
Discover here everything about the 2019 edition of the awards.
European Paper Recycling Awards 2019
The Winners of the 7th Edition of the European Paper Recycling Awards!
The Awarding Ceremony of the 7th Edition of the European Paper Recycling Awards took place in the European Parliament in Brussels on January 21 2020. The event takes place every two years with the specific goal to highlight and reward European projects, initiatives or campaigns that change the way we recycle paper in Europe and help us achieve our ambitious goal of a 74% paper recycling rate by 2020.
The ceremony awards the winners who have presented excellent and game-changing projects in two categories: Innovative Technologies and R&D and Information & Education.
The winners of this edition were the German company Repulping Technology GmbH & Co. KG for its technological developments and the international association Pro Carton for the educational work about paper recycling and its circular economy.
The first winner invented a new technology that makes the extraction of pulp fibres for recycling from products mixing papers and other material a lot easier and more energy efficient. The company’s new invention, the cavitation pulper, a machine exploiting the physical principle of cavitation, allows for an almost 100% recovery of the fibres from these products with an energy efficiency about 50% better than other technologies.
Pro Carton set up a European-wide educational program aimed at children primarily aged between 8 and 11 years and called TICCIT (Trees Into Cartons, Cartons Into Trees). The first of its geographical size, the program allows businesses across the paper value-chain to explain in schools the many benefits of recycling. The program reports a very high-degree of appreciation among the children with an expected spill over effect in families, leading to broader awareness of the importance of paper recycling.
With the Green Deal, the EU has developed a new ambitious leadership to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent. The Green Deal sets a path for a just and socially fair transition that leaves no one behind. But the involvement in climate action from all sectors is crucial. The European Paper Recycling Award is a great way to shed light on innovative, best-practice projects and initiatives in the field of paper recycling and I am very glad to see the strong interest and the innovative applications that we have received commented Jytte Gutteland, Swedish politician, Member of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, host of the EPRC Award 2019 and member of its jury.
Her fellow jury member the EPRC Chairperson Angelika Christ stated that: Recycling is the promise to save resources by repeatedly using them. For this we need the best available ideas. This year’s competition demonstrated again the creativity of people to make our world a better place by developing new technologies, ideas and communication to save material and resources.
During the ceremony, the Secretary of the EPRC and Cepi Raw Materials Director Ulrich Leberle presented the findings of the EPRC Monitoring Report 2018. He said The Monitoring Report confirms that paper recycling in Europe continues to be on the right path and on the rise, reaching the level of 71.6% in 2018, even if the latest data shows a slight decline due to Chinese restrictions of import.
The Video Highlights from the European Paper Recycling Awards 2019 Ceremony
The Photo Gallery from the European Paper Recycling Awards 2019 Ceremony
Jury members for the 2019 edition of the European Paper Recycling Awards:
Angelika Christ
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Angelika Christ was appointed as a chair of EPRC for a two years period starting as of 4 April 2019. She has been the Secretary General of FEFCO since 2007 and the Secretary General of CITPA since 2014. She has been involved in associations of corrugated board manufacturers for over 20 years, first in Germany and then at the European level. Prior to FEFCO, she was the Managing Director of the German Association of Corrugated Board Industries (VDW) from 1996 until 2007. Her first professional experience was with the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), where she executed various positions from 1980-1996. |
Jytte Guteland
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Jytte Guteland is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Sweden. She is a member of the Social Democrats, part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She holds a master’s degree in Economics from Södertörn University. She was a member of the national executive board of the Social Democratic Youth League from 2005 to 2007 with responsibility for the welfare issues. She was chairperson of the Social Democratic Youth League from 2007 to 2011.ytte Guteland was elected to the European Parliament during the 2014 European Parliament election in Sweden. She has since been serving on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. |
ASPAPEL
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ASPAPEL, the Spanish Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers is the 2017 winner of EPRC Awards, Information and Education category. Blue Birdies is a tool developed by ASPAPEL for Spanish municipalities aimed at improving separate collection of paper and board and achieving the recycling targets set by the Waste Directive. ASPAPEL will be represented by David Barrio and Andrea Orallo. |
Susanne Haase
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The trained editor Susanne Haase has been enthusiastically reporting for more than 15 years on the international paper and pulp industry. For many years she was responsible for the journals ipw (International Paperworld), Paperazzo and Biofibre Magazine as Editor-in-Chief. In addition, the native German worked as chief reporter for apr (Current Paper Review – Current Paper Review) and avr (General Nonwoven Report – Current Nonwoven Report). Since 2015 she is also in charge of the Journal of the IFPTA (International Forest Product Transport Association), which focusses on the international transport of forest-based products. |
The European Paper Recycling Award distinguishes between two main categories to ensure a fair comparison among the different entries.
- Information and Education: We are looking for projects and initiatives that were set up to raise awareness on paper recycling among a specific target group. Examples: a paper recycling school campaign, a municipality awareness-raising programme on sorting paper for recycling etc.
- Technology Improvement and R&D: This category includes innovative projects to improve paper recycling technology.
Eligible projects, initiatives or campaigns will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Relevance and originality
- Achievements
- Possibility to reproduce the project
- Cost effectiveness
To apply, please click check the Application section.
There are five previous editions of the European Paper Recycling Awards, which take place every 2 years.
Past winners and commended entries include the following:
- Aalto University and VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) with a new, innovative process for turning paper for recycling and cardboard into textile fibres called Ioncell-F (Finland)
- Szkoza Podstawowa nr 11a, a primary school in the Tychy region of Poland for their project Literatura za Makulature (Literature for Paper for Recycling) . In order to encourage children to get involved in paper recycling, the school invited famous Polish authors to meet its pupils, paying for their participation with money raised from selling the paper for recycling brought to school by the children. The initiative is unique not only in Tychy but in Poland. (Poland)
- Ecofolio, a non-profit organisation that manages the end-of-life-processes of graphic paper products on behalf of the French government. Their winning project was The Modulated Eco-Contribution Scale, an innovative tool to promote recycling by adjusting paper-related eco-contributions paid by paper products editors. (France)
- The Education project Papier & Karton, a digital school programme developed by Papierenkarton.nl and Klasse TV. The programme aims to stimulate recycling, creativity and awareness of the suistainable features of paper and board amongst children of 10 to 12 years of age and to involve children in re-use and recycling of paper and board. (The Netherlands)
- The project Recycling of Energy and FILLers from Sludge, aiming to provide a sustainable solution for the paper industry’s biggest waste flow: deinking and paper sludge. Project REFILLS was launched by Alucha, a technology company that specialises in advanced recycling solutions for difficult waste streams. In 2014, SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, joined the project. (The Netherlands)
- Alcorcen municipality in Spain. Their project improved paper and board collection by distributing paper bins in all schools in the district. The project aims to increase both the amount of paper collected as well as environmental awareness among children. (Spain)
- Voith Paper GmbH & Co. KG with a new technology called LowEnergyFlotation (LEF). Newly developed injectors are at the heart of the LEF. Together with the modified pumps, they enable energy consumption to be reduced by up to 50% in the flotation. Subsequently, paper mills not only save energy but also achieve significant financial savings. (Germany)