Assessing life-cycle GHG emissions of recycled paper products under imported solid waste ban in China: A case study

Changes of raw materials in China's recycled paper industry after the imported solid waste ban affect products' life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well. This paper presented a case study of newsprint production with prior- and post-ban scenarios with life cycle assessment, including using imported waste paper (P0) and its three substitutions, i.e., virgin pulp (P1), domestic waste paper (P2), and imported recycled pulp (P3). The function unit is 1 ton of newsprint produced in China, and the study is conducted from cradle to grave which consists pulping and papermaking process, from raw material acquisition to manufacturing, with associated energy production and wastewater treatment, transport, and chemicals production. Our results showed that P1 holds the highest life-cycle GHG emission of 2724.91, followed by 2400.88 from P3. P2 has the lowest emission of 1619.27, only slightly lower than 1742.39 before the ban using route P0 (unit: kgCO₂e/ton paper). Scenario analysis showed that current average life-cycle GHG emission for one ton of newsprint is 2049.33 kgCO₂e, increased by 17.62 % due to the ban, while this number could be reduced to 12.22 % or even -0.79 % if switching from P1 to P3 and P2. Our study highlighted the importance of domestic waste paper as a promising way to reduce GHG emissions, which still has great potential to increase if with an enhanced waste paper recycling system in China.