Recovered Paper (OCC 11 & Double-Sorted OCC 12)

Old corrugated containers to ISRI grades 11 and 12 and EN 643 1.05, baled and containerised

Recovered paper is sold on grade, and the grade is defined by what is allowed to be in the bale. In the ReMA (formerly ISRI) specifications, grade 11 old corrugated containers (OCC) is used corrugated boxes, cartons and trimmings with prohibitive materials no more than 1% and total outthrows no more than 5%, and grade 12 double-sorted OCC is a cleaner sort for mills that need less contamination. In Europe the same material is graded under EN 643, where 1.05 is ordinary corrugated board, with non-paper components limited to 1.5% and moisture to 12%. Mills pay on bale weight, so moisture and contamination are tested on arrival and deducted, and India applies a contamination limit to imports of mixed paper. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 4707.10 (unbleached kraft paper and corrugated paper or paperboard) total USD 4.45 billion and 21.0 million MT across the reporters in the pull, led by the USA with 8.24 million MT and 37.2% of the value, then the UK (11.3%), France (5.8%), the Netherlands (5.4%), Japan (5.0%) and Italy (4.0%).

The trade map changed in 2021, when China's full ban on solid waste imports, including all recovered paper, came into force on 1 January 2021; India, Vietnam and Malaysia among others increased their imports of recovered paper as the Chinese outlet closed. The buyers are containerboard, kraft liner and fluting mills and duplex board mills in India and Southeast Asia, and the recovered paper traders who supply them. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers OCC between collectors, sorting plants and exporters on one side and mills and their importers on the other, lot by lot on the grade and the mill's acceptance terms. OCC moves in wired bales loaded into 40-ft containers, on CFR terms per metric tonne, with a pre-shipment inspection certificate where the importing country requires one, bale photographs and weighbridge tickets per container. Recovered paper is regulated as a waste stream in many markets, and the importer's licence and the destination's current import rules are checked before a contract is made.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.