Recycling picking up for old newspapers

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The demand for old newspapers, which had all but vanished in recent months, is on the upswing.

“The newspaper glut is over,” said William McGrath, the state’s recycling market development director. “Certain pockets of the state may not be informed, but we need 75 tons a week.”

As more companies find creative ways to use old newspapers, the market cannot keep pace with demand, McGrath said. Animal bedding, cellulose insulation, packing material and horticultural products are recent developments for the use of yesterday’s newspaper.

Vermont is looking for the additional newsprint because of those new outlets, and also because the export market to Europe and Japan is up, McGrath said.

“The newspaper market is turning around,” said McGrath, who added that Vermont distributors may have to begin to pay for the newspapers again if the demand outpaces the supply.

In New Jersey, the rate for a ton of newspapers is $5 to $10, McGrath said. “Nobody is paying here now, but a tighter market will bring that trend to Vermont,” he said.

Only 25,000 tons of newspaper are produced in Vermont each year, compared with 1.3 million tons in New York, McGrath said. “So with a two-thirds recovery rate, which is high, we can expect to recycle 16,500 tons.”

If every farmer in Vermont wanted to use shredded newspaper as cow bedding, more than that 16,500 tons of paper would be needed, he said.

An official of a Vermont recycling experiment estimates it would use 250,000 tons of newspaper during the next two years. “And that could expand, if all goes well,” said Barbara Stanley, owner of Beaver Meadow Farm in Enosburg Falls.

Beaver Meadow has received a $9,000 grant from the state to explore a fiber potting container for plants, made out of newspaper.