Tidningspapper av returpapper - Den svenska massa- och pappersindustrins omvandling under senare delen av 1900-talet

Licentiate thesis, 2006

The aim of this thesis is to analyze background factors and motives behind the investments in de-inking technology within the Swedish newsprint industry. The primary information covers special periodicals, official documents and acts from the archives of Hylte Mill. The introduc-tion of recycled paper has radically transformed the Swedish newsprint industry. Waste paper was not used at all before 1975, but today it is an important raw material. The use of recycled paper reduces the consumption of energy and resources. Three out of five Swedish newsprint mills invested in de-inking technology between 1975 and 1978. There were two crucial reasons for this development. Firstly, the fear of shortage of wood. Secondly, in 1975, Parliament made a decision of a compulsory collection system for sorted waste paper from households. However, environmental and energy issues were not of decisive importance for the development in the 1970s. In the late 1980s, Hylte Mill erected a second line for production of pulp from recycled paper. The first expansion plan was to erect a line for production of thermo-mechanical pulp instead. Due to the Tjernobyl accident the company changed their expansion plan. For a long time, recycled paper was seen as a raw material of second class. But in the late 1980s the market asked for newsprint with a mixture of recycled paper, while it was classified as more environ-mentally-friendly than wood-based paper. Furthermore, the thesis has shown how environ-mentally-friendly technology was introduced to an existing industry structure with a positive economic result.