Paper Recycling Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Global Industry Analysis: By Source of Collection (Industries, Offices, Households), By Application (Newsprint Paper, Cardboard, Writing and Printing Paper, Packaging Products), By End-Use Industries (Food and Beverage, Retail, Electronics, Printing and Paper, Construction) and Region Forecast 2020-2031

Paper Recycling Market size was valued at US$ 10.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$ 15 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2025-2031. U.S. Paper Recycling Market is expected to grow significantly, reaching an estimated value of US$ 3.5 billion by 2031. Paper recycling is no longer an afterthought but is increasingly becoming a front-runner environmental stewardship, material productivity, and compliance leader in industries. As the volume of packaging increases and circular economy dogma grips the world, companies and municipalities are reconsidering the collection, processing, and reintroduction of post-consumer paper waste into supply chains. Recycling is no longer waste reduction, but value recovery and resource stewardship. With greater pressure from zero-waste laws and ESG demands, recycled paper is ever more being reframed as a material of preference, stable, renewable, and compliant. The trend is enabling cost reduction in operations and reputation capital for companies wanting to be low-impact manufacturing leaders.

Spurred by a combination of consumer responsiveness, regulation, and commercial necessity, the paper recycling market is growing more data-driven, technology-enabled, and globally interconnected. Emerging economies are investing in capacity for collection and processing, while advanced economies are looking at automation, machine learning-based sorting, and material tracing to enhance efficiency and cut contamination. High-quality recycled paper is being used more and more on packaging, hygiene, printing, and even construction materials, highlighting its versatility as well as rising commercial value. From becoming the source of waste and creativity, paper recycling is now evolving from a secondary need into a material pillar of circularity and thus is a high-priority market for transitioning toward climate-resilient economies.

Facts & Figures

• Recycled paper today accounts for over half of global paper manufacturing, as manufacturers increasingly use recycled fiber to cut raw material cost, energy usage, and environmental strain
• Waste infrastructure in urban areas is transforming into recovery plants for fiber, with smart bins, AI technology, and decentralized baling machines allowing cities to achieve improved collection rates and lower recovered paper stream contamination.
• Packaging is driving most paper recycling demand, and in tandem with the e-commerce boom, and retail firms committing to utilizing high-recycled-content corrugated boxes and paperboard materials
• Cross-border policy inflexibility of waste export is forcing countries to develop domestic recycling facilities, driving public-private capital expenditures in domestic paper reprocessing and circularity schemes.

Key Developments

• In May 2025, Mondi launched re/cycle Functional Barrier Paper 95/5, produced in-house entirely from FSC™ and PEFC-certified paper. It is engineered to recycle on current European paper recycling infrastructure, increasing circularity in functional barrier uses.
• In April 2025, Lecta launched Garda Recycled Print, a double-coated paper using 100% recycled fibre that is FSC® Recycled Credit certified. Its high opacity and better print quality reflect how much recyclable paper has come of age even for demanding publishing and graphics applicants.
• In September 2024, Marigold Health Foods partnered with Sonoco to launch fully recyclable, fiber packaging for its plant-based product range. Comprising 95% paper, 60% post-consumer recycled, the solution is curb side recyclable in the UK and allows for OPRL compliance.

Paper Recycling Market Segmentation

Based on the source of collection

• Industries
• Offices
• Household

Industries remain the best source of paper waste collection, with high-volume, relatively clean flows especially suited to recycling. Regular grades of paper waste are generated by factory plants, printing mills, and packaging houses, often pre-sorted at point of generation, with less need for extended downstream treatment. Industrial sources play a crucial role in meeting mill-grade demand for recycled fiber, particularly for linerboard and folding cartons end-uses. Apart from this, the majority of firms today include waste recovery in their ESG reporting to support closed-loop programs and in-house paper take-back programs. Their ability to sort material by size and respond to collection specifications ensures supply reliability to the recyclers, thus making industry partnerships a cornerstone of the paper recycling system.

Based on the application

• Newsprint paper
• Cardboard
• Writing & Printing Paper
• Packaging Products
• Others

Cardboard is faced with most uses in the paper recycling sector, driven by the growing global need for e-commerce and shipping packaging. Corrugated cardboard not only is greatly recyclable, but structurally very strong and light, rendering it very well suited to logistics and supply chain processes. As customers and packaging producers ask for percentages of recycled content, recycled cardboard is being bulk-recycled to meet sustainability requirements without compromising on packaging printability and strength. Fiber sorting and de-inking technologies have further improved the quality and consistency of recycled cardboard. With pressure on single-use plastics increasing, both from consumers and governments, cardboard recycling continues to accelerate in developed economies and rapidly expanding emerging economies.

Based on the end user

• Food & Beverages
• Retail
• Electronics
• Printing & Paper
• Construction

Food and beverage are one of the major end-use sectors for recycled paper, especially the growing demand for sustainable packaging. From bulk shipping in recycled corrugated boxes, through molded fiber trays and folding cartons with recycled content, the market is shifting towards circular material usage for both primary and secondary packaging. With increasing regulatory interest in food-contact materials, use of certified recycled paper has become more secure and reduced its environmental footprint. The majority of F&B players worldwide have signed up publicly to providing post-consumer recycled content throughout packaging portfolios, establishing stable demand and propelling innovation in greaseproof as well as moisture-resistant recycled formats. Not just a customer, this industry is also an outspoken advocate for the increase of recycling plants.