Huge volumes of waste paper are imported to Thailand. Every year these volumes are growing quite rapidly. Recycled paper is imported in large quantities from the USA. It has been noted that the imported waste paper, OCC11 and other grades, contains a lot of contaminants. As is known, severe contamination of used paper leads to the fact that the waste paper is not fully recycled. As a result, it turns out that the imported secondary raw materials are partially non-recyclable waste. What to do in such a situation? The Thai authorities have found a way out.
A decision was made to introduce new rules that concern the degree of contamination of waste paper imported from abroad. Now, recycled paper raw materials, if sorted, must contain no more than 2 percent of contaminants. For unsorted used paper and cardboard, this figure is slightly higher – 3 percent. Such rules will allow Thailand to obtain cleaner waste paper. Accordingly, this will reduce the volume of raw materials that cannot be recycled. This approach is correct. Those who supply paper secondary raw materials to Thailand will have to better control the quality of the products sold to this country.
