The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) just updated its 2007 report on the paper industry. The State of the Paper Industry 2011: Steps Toward an Environmental Vision  found, among other things, that, “total paper consumption in North America has declined 24% between 2006 and 2009. Per capita consumption of paper in North America dropped from more than 652 lbs/year in 2005 to 504 lbs/year in 2009.” However, in 2009, for the first time, total paper consumption in China exceeded that in North America. There is actually quite a bit of encouraging news in this report. First of all: “The United States paper recovery rate rose from 46% in 2000 to a record high 63.4% in 2009. In Canada the reported paper recovery rate in 2009 was 66%.” Even better, the tonnage of paper discarded in U.S. landfills dropped from 42 million tons in 2005 to 26 million tons in 2009. Paper also dropped from 25% of the waste stream to 16%. At the same time:

The number of acres certified by FSC in North America has grown by 66 million acres (26.7 million hectares) between January 2007 and January 2011. This represents a doubling of forests managed to the FSC standard and a total 131 million acres (53 million hectares) certified in North America. Globally, FSC has certified almost 328 million acres (132.7 million hectares) as of January 1, 2011.

What is driving these trends? The EPN report identifies that one of the biggest drivers of sustainably sourced virgin fiber and recycling is a plethora of environmental paper procurement policies on the part of large corporate purchasers—a good chunk of them from Fortune 500 companies. It’s actually a very encouraging report, although—inevitably—challenges remain, which the EPN identifies as further eliminating waste and inefficiency; increasing recycled content in printing and writing papers; keeping controversial overseas fiber and paper out of the supply chain; and more.