Background: The conditions have completely changed since the early 1990s when the federal government–and state governments–considered recycling mandates to encourage the production and use of recycled content newsprint. Through largely voluntary initiatives, newspaper publishers committed to using recycled-content newsprint and the North American newsprint industry answered the call by increasing its recycling capacity.

Recycling Success:

• In 1989, the newspaper recycling rate was 35 percent. Today, over 73 percent of all old newspapers in the United States are recovered and recycled.
  
• The average amount of recycled fiber content in newsprint used by U.S. newspapers has increased from 10 percent in 1989 to more than 30 percent today.
  
• Not only have old newspapers been used to produce recycled newsprint, newspapers are recycled into other products such as cereal boxes, egg cartons, pencil barrels, grocery bags, tissue paper, cellulose insulation materials, and many more diverse products. The manufacturing of these products can be more economical and environmental than shipping old newspapers out-of- state to distant mills for recycling into new newsprint.
  
• Since the late 1980s, the North American newsprint industry has made significant investments to add de-inking equipment to paper machines to produce recycled newsprint. While the increase of recycled fiber in newsprint used by U.S. newspapers since 1989 has been remarkable, the industry may have reached the maximum levels given current market conditions. Investments in additional capacity in the newsprint market is not as attractive as it was 15 years ago because of declining newsprint consumption (as a result of declining circulation) and concern over shortages in the supply of old newspapers as a raw material for newsprint manufacturing.