Paper industry claims to more recycling
Paper industry claims to more recycling
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's pulp and paper industry claims it is utilizing
more used paper as raw material in line with the recycling trend
in the global business.
However, environmentalists refuted the claim, saying the
industry still relied on illegally cut wood.
Chairman of the Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association Muhammad
Mansur said the Indonesian pulp and paper industry had been
practicing recycling for years and used paper now accounted for
about 50 percent of the raw material used by the industry.
"Almost half of the paper used in Indonesia is made of
recycled paper and the trend continues to rise by 5 percent to 10
percent of national paper consumption per year," said Mansur.
Mansur said that the recycled paper was mostly used in
printing, various manufacturing companies, and service
industries, because it was cheaper and environmentally friendly.
"Most newspapers use recycled paper while many kinds of paper,
such as medium liners, crash liners and cardboard which are used
in industry, are made from used paper. The pulp and paper
industry no longer has to answer to the accusation that they are
destroying the environment," he said.
Mansur added the fact that over half of the paper used
worldwide, including in Europe, the U.S., and China, was
recycled, had motivated Indonesia's industry to also utilize used
paper.
However, Longgena Ginting, executive director of the
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), refuted Mansur's
statement, saying used paper accounted for only 10 percent of the
industry's raw material.
"The remainder is from natural forests and the firm's
industrial forests. Sadly, wood from natural forests, which has
been illegally cut, accounts for 40 percent of their raw
material," he said.
The government has reduced the logging quota for all forestry-
related industries to 5.7 million cubic meters this year, from
6.89 cubic meters last year as part of the efforts to curb the
country's alarming deforestation rate.
The move has sparked protests from plywood and furniture
industries, which claimed that their business has been hard hit
by the supply shortages caused by the policy.
Mansur played down the impact of the reduction of logging
quota on the country's pulp and paper business and the allegation
that the industry used illegally cut wood.
He said aside from used paper, the industry has enough raw
material supplies from its own industrial forests.
There are seven pulp and paper producers in Indonesia, which
produce a combined 7.5 million tons of paper and 6 million tons
pulp a year. The companies are Toba Hutan Lestari, Indah Kiat,
Riau Andalan, Lontar Papirus, Tanjung Enim Kertas, Kiani, and
Kertas Kraft. They sell about 60 percent of their paper products
locally and export the remainder.
He said that none of the companies had problems with raw
materials as they had planted between 200,000 to 300,000 hectares
of forests each. The seven firms have been awarded with a total
of 90 million hectares in concession areas, while the areas that
have been planted with trees for harvesting by the firms total 2
million hectares.
Indonesian's pulp and paper exports decreased significantly
from US$213.5 million in January to $78.6 million in February,
according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
However, Mansur, describing the decline as "a seasonal drop",
adding he believed Indonesian exports would grow this year.
"We believe that this year's exports will increase to US$3.2
billion from US$3 billion last year," he said.
Pulp, paper and paper product exports
Year export volume export value
2002 3.4 million tons US$2.7 billion
2003 3.5 million tons US$3.0 billion
2004 3.6 million tons US$3.2 billion
(forecast)
Indonesian pulp and paper producers
Company Location
Toba Hutan Lestari North Sumatra
Indah Kiat Riau
Riau Anadalan Riau
Lontar Papirus Jambi
Tanjung Enim Kertas South Sumatra
Kiani Kertas East Kalimantan
Kertas Kraft Aceh
Source: the Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association