ABSTRACT
Environmentalists around the world have argued that pulp and paper manufacturing can become more ecological by using more post-consumer waste paper, logging fewer native forests and producing less waste. New South-East Asian mills have been built where they are, at the scale at which they are, with the technology that they have, because of the economics of raw materials costs combined with the availability of technologies and financing. Nordic, Canadian, and US governments have given interest-free loans, trade credits and technical expertise to South-East Asian pulp and paper firms in conjunction with procurement of technology from national firms. South-East Asian pulp and paper firms maintained complementary relationships with neighbouring firms and farms as long as pulp production was relatively small-scale, pollution was not identified as a problem, and there were surplus agricultural wastes. The industry shifted to large wood-based mills once technological advances allowed mixed tropical hardwoods to be turned into quality product, extensive forest resources were made available.
