PRESS RELEASE

Brussels,12^thJune 2008

2008World Recycling Convention &

BIR’s60^thAnniversary Celebration

MonteCarlo, 2-4 June 2008

PaperDivision:

DominiqueMaguin receives award for lifelong services to the recycling industry

Dominique Maguin of France, who is currently World President of theBureau of International Recycling (BIR), has become the firstrecipient of an award for lifelong services to the paper recyclingindustry.

The award recognising the contribution of an individual to theindustry will be bestowed by BIR’s Paper Division at the worldbody’s Spring Conventions, while a similar award to an organisationor a corporation will be given at BIR Autumn Conventions. Accordingto Mr Maguin’s successor as President of the Paper Division, RanjitBaxi of UK-based J & H Sales International Ltd, these accoladeswere designed to “honour the champions of our industry” and toboost its profile. “Our role does not always receive the fullrecognition it deserves,” he said.

Mr Maguin confirmed that BIR was looking to elevate the recyclingindustry’s image as a major environmental force by conducting amajor study into its carbon footprint. “We are the only recyclers,”he proclaimed. Whereas mills consumed recyclables with the specificintention of manufacturing a product, “our only aim is to recycle”.

The positive environmental role performed by the paper recyclingindustry was stressed by guest speaker Holger Alwast of Prognos AG inGermany - a company that has recently revealed the results of a studyinto the potential benefits of recycling in terms of resource savingand carbon dioxide emission reduction. Having identified a carbondioxide saving of 840kg per tonne of paper recycled, the guestspeaker suggested that a more ambitious approach to waste managementand recycling as a whole could contribute between 16 and 27% ofEuropean emission reduction targets for 2020.

Fellow guest speaker Ilpo Ervasti, Leading Advisor to PöyryForest Industry Consulting of Finland, argued that 2.5 tonnes ofpaper equated to one tonne of oil in energy content terms, thusgiving paper a value of US$ 338 per tonne based on current oilprices. It was therefore important to maintain high standards ofcollection and sorting to avoid the “great threat” of lowergrades of recovered paper being employed in power generation.

The divisional meeting in Monte-Carlo heard market reports from manyof the key countries and regions in the paper recycling industry. MrBaxi reported that Asian demand for recovered paper imports remainedstrong despite recent weakness in OCC and mixed paper prices.However, freight rate increases and currency fluctuations were“making it difficult to sustain fibre exports”. Conditions werecurrently “slightly tough” but the outlook for the paperrecycling industry “looks good”, he added.

Chinese imports of recovered fibre climbed 15% to 22.6 million tonneslast year whereas growth seemed likely to be limited to nearer 7-8%in 2008, according to Mr Baxi. With the country’s paper and boardproduction expected to exceed 100 million tonnes by 2014, “demandfor fibre should continue to grow at 8-10% per annum”. He stressed,however, that domestic collections in China would gather pace overthe coming years. Overall demand for recovered fibre would also beunderpinned by tax increases on exports of wood chips from Russia andother countries, and by the anticipated closure of pulp mills.

In other market reports, Jaroslav Dobes of Remat SRO suggested thatthe closure of the Norske Skog paper mill in Steti would have amarked impact on the Czech market given that the facility consumed80,000 tonnes per annum of deinking grades. Giuseppe Masotina ofMasotina SPA lamented the closure of some 22 Italian paper millssince the start of the Millennium, adding that the country’spackaging producers were currently experiencing “a very deepcrisis” owing to a drop in consumption. The Spanish market was alsowitnessing mill closures and downtime, according to Francisco Donosoof Reciclajes Dolaf SL, while Turkish mills were likely to takedowntime in response to significantly higher energy costs, notedEkrem Demircioglu of Dönkasan AS.

For Sweden, Jan Bruzelius of IL Recycling AB noted a US$ 10 per tonnedrop in the OCC price but continuing tightness in the tissue grademarket. Jean-Luc Petithuguenin of Paprec in France also noted the OCCmarket decline and declared: “We are waiting for the Chinese.”The outlook for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was “promising”despite the OCC price fall, commented Ain Lindre of Estonia-basedTallinna Sekto.

Reinhold Schmidt of Recycling Karla Schmidt reported that therecovered paper utilisation rate in Germany had advanced to 68% lastyear while David Symmers of the Independent Waste Paper ProcessorsAssociation confirmed that UK exports of recovered fibre had exceededdomestic consumption in 2007.

The new Chair of the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA),Merja Helander of Paperinkeräys Oy of Finland, confirmed thatthe ninth version of the EN 643 standard grades list revisionprovided “a good basis for further discussion” with theConfederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and FEAD.