The pulp and paper industry in Japan, aiming to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society, has made progress in conserving resources and energy by recycling wastepaper and putting unutilized resources to use. Furthermore, the industry has made numerous efforts to shift to production processes with smaller impacts on the environment, such as introducing advanced wastewater treatment systems and non-chlorine bleaching.

Japan Pulp and Paper Research Institute (JPRI) was established in 1972 by five member companies (now these have merged into two: Oji Paper and Nippon Paper) JPRI has conducted research in areas such as development of pulping processes with smaller impacts on the environment and techniques for wastepaper utilization.

The importance of environmental issues has been increasing in recent years. Since 1994, JPRI has concentrated its research efforts on environmental issues, with the goals of taking a new look at impacts on the environment from the new perspective of developing a pulp and paper industry that is friendly to the needs of living things and identifying reasonable changes for the better. Since then, we have developed a system for studying bioassays of wastewater and chemical microanalysis and proceeded with research into the environment in which the pulp and paper industry operates - in particular into protecting the environment in aquatic ecosystems receiving effluent discharges. Through the continuous cooperation of JPRI and the plants of its two member companies, considerable improvements have been made in aquatic ecosystems receiving effluent discharges from these plants.

Today, the pulp and paper industry is regarded as a leading industry in the area of recycling of resources. However, paper production requires large volumes of industrial-process water. We think there will be a need for future research to investigate the effects of such water use on biodiversity. To protect our natural environment, JPRI is advancing research and development efforts autonomously as it aspires to become a research center that can contribute to global environmental research as well as in the pulp and paper industry.