The paperless office has turned out to be a myth, according to Great Southern Plantations managing director John Young.
Young says the growing use of computers both at home and work has led to more, rather than less, paper being used.
The continued strong demand for paper is good news for Great Southern which is one of the country’s biggest managers of forestry plantations grown for woodchipping and paper production.
“For many years we have been hearing that the IT revolution will spell the end of paper products,” Young says.
“However, far from reducing the amount of paper consumed, we are finding that as office and home use of computers rises, so too does demand for paper for printers, faxes and other devices,” he said.
Population growth combined with improved income and literacy levels in developing countries like Asia, was fuelling international demand for paper.
“We are predicting that the demand for paper in Asia will grow at about 5 per cent annually over the long term, and that Asia will account for consumption of a third of the world’s paper within the next 15 years,” Young says.
The United States was also a massive consumer of paper with each person using 339kg of paper in 1997. This was compared to 27kg per person in China and 4kg in India.
Great Southern general manager Cameron Rhodes rejects conservationists’ claims that there would be an over-supply of woodchip in the future.
“Contrary to any suggestion of an over-supply of woodchip in the future, we are predicting that there will in fact be an under-supply of good quality plantation woodchip over the coming years,” he says.
