Environmentally Friendly Resource Use — Taiwan’s Experience in Pulp and Paper Production

Fiber supply, waste reduction and pollution control have long been key challenges facing the pulp and paper industry in Taiwan. Water usage, energy consumption and capital effectiveness are also high on the list. An average of 5,213 hectares of plantation was established each year on the island in the past decade to provide a wood volume of approximately 26 thousand cubic meters annually. To complement the supply of increasingly expensive virgin fiber, the industry in 1997 re-utilized about 4 million tons of waste paper, of which nearly 70% was collected domestically. This secondary fiber input for paper and board production eliminated both the construction of ten incinerators and 3.65 million tons of C02 emission.