Per capita consumption of paper

Pulp production and per capita consumption of paper and board for 1992 is shown in Table 8. The United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Norway make up the North American and Scandinavian (NORSCAN) countries and produced about 63% (22.8 million tons) of the world output. Market share is growing for producers in Latin and South America, Western Europe, Asia, and Africa. These areas provide low cost pulp from state-of-the-art mills. Mills in the third world countries often enjoy the benefits of plentiful, fast-growing tree species, such as eucalyptus and tropical pines, and lower operating and labor costs (3). 

The annual world production of paper and board is around 250 million metric tonnes, and well over half of this is produced in the US and EEC countries. A mere 1.2 million tonnes is produced in the whole of Africa. It is also consumed almost totally by the developed world and the per capita consumption of paper and board products varies hugely throughout the world (Table 1.1). 

Region Annual per capita consumption of paper and board)kg... 

These trends are supported by a 3.3% pa growth in demand for paper and board products, with fresh wood pulp production of 167 million tonnes and recovered fibre of 141 million tonnes in 2002 (FAO, 2004). There is a reasonable correlation between per capita consumption of paper and GDP per capita (Figure 13.1). The scatter may reflect local availability of wood, the size of the literate middle class, and the diffusion of wealth within particular countries. Increasing GDP and literacy mean that the greatest growth will be seen in Asia and South America. 

Among the many problems facing the world today, two of the most important are pollution of the environment and the threat of famine. Disposal of lignocellulosic material by burning adds to air pollution. Disposal by biological means, if properly carried out, avoids this pollution but it can be costly. The per capita consumption of paper and paper-board in the United States in 1966 was 530 pounds, much of which is intended for short-term use. Since this is only a minor part of the cellu-losic material to be disposed of each year, the pollution potential of the surplus is tremendous. 

World population has more than doubled from 2.5 x 10 in 1950 to 6.2 X 10 in 2002. The per capita consumption of paper worldwide was 18 kg in 1950 and 53 kg in 2002, an increase of 294%. Thus the relative consumption of paper per capita has increased considerably faster than the world population. It is obvious that these average global values do not reflect the substantial regional differences. 

Nuts and Nut Products. Nuts are used mainly as edible products and marketed either with or without the shell, as the demand requites. The most popular nuts ia the shell are English walnut, filbert, almond, Brazil nut, peanut, pistachio, and the improved, or paper-shell, pecan the most popular salted and roasted nut kernels iaclude these as well as the cashew, macadamia, and pignofla. Each year more nuts are shelled ia ceatraHy located plants and marketed as meats. The annual per capita consumption of shelled tree nuts ia the United States rose from 0.78 kg in 1987 to 1.00 kg in 1992 (132). 

The student should review Fig. 7.1 to see the relative size of Paper Manufacturing compared to other chemical process industries. Its 1998 U.S. shipments totalled 156 billion, about one third of the size of Chemical Manufacturing at 424 billion. It is about the same size as Petroleum and Coal at 137 billion. It has undergone a steady increase over the years, even in the 1980s when sectors like Petroleum and Coal suffered a decline. It has not grown as fast as Chemical Manufacturing. U.S. consumption of wood pulp is 67 million tons per year. The paper industry makes approximately 95 million tons of paper and paperboard products annually. This country s production of paper products is more than half the world s production. Per capita consumption of pulp has risen sharply in recent years. In 1940 it was 255 lb of pulp per person in the U.S. in recent years it is near 600 lb. 

Wood fibers are converted into pulps that are useful both in the manufacture of paper and in preparation of regenerated textile fibers. In the United States, the annual per capita consumption of p>aper and paper products is several times greater than that of other non-food polymers. Modifications of the properties of paper through chemical reactions are possibilities that need further investigation. 

Table 1.1 Annual per capita consumption (1991) of paper and board products in various regions world-wide.

Information on annual per capita food use In the U.S. Is obtained from published (17. 18) and unpublished data from the Economic Research Service of USDA. Quantities are measured of approximately 350 foods that "disappear" Into the food distribution system. The amounts are derived by deducting data on exports, military use, year-end Inventories, and nonfood use from data on production, Imports, and beglnnlng-of-the year Inventories. Because of the complexity of the food distribution system, use of each food Is not measured at the same point In the system. Some foods are In a raw or primary state while others are retail products when their use Is measured. Subsequent losses that occur In processing, marketing, and home use are not taken into consideration. Food supply data used In the preparation of this report reflect, for the first time, revised population estimates for 1970-1981 based on the 1980 Census and revised estimates for fluid milk and cream use from 1909-1981. Dairy product consumption data for 1981 In this paper are preliminary. 

Table 5.1.5 Annual energy consumption in tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per capita (pc) (1 toe = 41.87 CJ), annual consumption of food, meat, and paper (including paperboard) pc (FAO, 2007, 2011), level of science and technology relative to the USA (see footnote a), share of Internet users in the population, life expectancy at birth (CIA, 2009), use of private cars per 100 people (World Bank, 2010), and annual consumption of motor gasoline and diesel oil (WRI, 2010) in selected countries.

---