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