Rise in price of recycled paper is good news for collectors

In the past year, the price of recycled increased sharply. This was not only beneficial for the municipality who is responsible for the collection of waste paper, but also for sports clubs, churches and schools who rely on waste paper as a source of income the development is good news.

“Last year we received 4 cents per kilo from the recycling company. Now it is 7.5 cents”, Kees Bus member of the football club Dios in Nieuw-Vennep said to NOS. Together with three other sports associations, the football club has been collecting waste paper since 1993.

“In terms of price, we are back at the level we were at in 2016 and 2017”, Gerard Nijssen from the recycling company Dios works with said.

Prices fell in 2018 when the sales market in Asia suddenly became smaller. “China imported significantly less waste paper from 2018 onwards. That made it more difficult for us to get rid of it in Europe and prices fell.”

Yet since the start of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, prices began to climb again, due to a lack of supply. “The collection of waste paper sunk drastically during the first lockdown. Some municipalities temporarily stopped collecting altogether”, director of the trade association for waste paper (FNOI), Hans Koning said.

Simultaneously, the demand for paper products such as tissues, toilet paper and cardboard packaging shot up. “The demand grew again compared to the supply and then prices rose”, Koning said. The FNOI director predicted that the prices have now stabilized and will not increase much further.

Yet not all waste paper collectors profited from the price increase. “We didn’t notice the price increase”, chairman of the sports association WSV1930 said. “We signed a contract with a paper company when the price of waste paper went down, so we get a fixed price. The contract will for a few more years.”

Despite three-quarters of all municipalities still depending on volunteers, waste paper collection has become increasingly professionalized in the past years, due to developments in technology. “Times have changed”, Koning said. “People used to put a box of old paper on the street burn and the association drove by and collected it. Nowadays, you have to deal with mini containers and garbage trucks. These are quite dangerous devices for which you also need training before you can work with them.”

Incidentally, the rise in price of recycled paper did not have direct consequences for online customers. Bol.com said they will not pass on the price increase to consumers and PostNL also stated that the higher cardboard price will result in more shipping costs.