By using wastepaper as an alternative to pulpwood, China's paper industry has built up a massive recycling capacity that is shielding forests across the globe from destruction, according to a report released on Friday by Forest Trends, an international forestry organization.

Entitled Environmental Aspects of China's Papermaking Fiber Supply, the report said that about 60 percent of the fiber used to manufacture paper and paper board products in China is derived from wastepaper mainly imported from the United States, Europe and Japan.

The total amount of imported wastepaper increased more than 500 percent from 3.1 million tons in 1996 to 19.6 million tons last year, with most of the growth occurring between 2002 and 2006, according to the report.

"China is by far the world's biggest consumer of wastepaper and that's a good thing because in the last four years alone, China has prevented 65 million tons of wastepaper from heading to landfills in the US, Japan and Europe," said Brian Stafford, the lead author of the report and expert on the international pulp and paper industry.

For instance, China's use of wastepaper instead of trees to make paper products probably saved 54 million tons of wood from being harvested for pulp in the last year alone.

According to the report, about three-quarters of the fiber China gets from wastepaper is used to manufacture corrugated cardboard boxes to ship goods such as consumer electronics, clothing and furniture to overseas markets.

The remainder is mostly used to make newsprint, as well as certain types of coated paper used in magazines and advertising catalogues.

"It's clear that the sheer volume of wastepaper used in Chinese manufacturing has a very beneficial and stabilizing effect on the global market for wastepaper, which in turn makes wastepaper collection a viable green option for communities in wealthy countries," said Kerstin Canby, director of Forest Finance and Trade at Forest Trends.

(China Daily July 14, 2007)