Recycled vs virgin kraft: the real cost-quality trade-off in 2026
Recycled fibre is cheaper per tonne — but how does it perform on tensile, print and runnability across bag and PBL grades?
The cheapest tonne of paper is rarely the cheapest tonne of finished product. Recycled kraft is typically 60–120 €/t below virgin kraft, but the gap closes — sometimes inverts — once you account for tensile loss, higher reject rates and machine downtime.
Where recycled wins
- Plasterboard back liner: structural performance is fully achievable with 100% recycled fibre at 180–220 g/m².
- Inner plies of multiwall sacks: cost-sensitive and not load-critical.
- Brown shopping bags with low print coverage: visual roughness is acceptable.
Where virgin is still required
- Food-contact bleached kraft: virgin pulp is regulatory in most EU jurisdictions.
- Premium QSR carriers: print quality demands a clean virgin surface.
- Top ply of cement sacks: tear and burst targets require long virgin fibre.
The hidden cost: reject rate
A 100% recycled liner can show a reject rate 1.5–3% higher than virgin at the converter, depending on the line speed and the dust content of the recycled stream. On a 50 kt/year programme that hidden waste often eats 70% of the apparent saving.
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