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Paper and paperboard consumption in the United States has seen a significant decline over the past two decades. In 2023, consumption reached approximately 58.32 million metric tons, marking a 38 percent decrease from 2000 levels.

Production and recycling trends in the United States

As consumption, paper production in the U.S. has declined in recent years, dropping to some 60 million metric tons in 2023. Despite this decreasing trend, the country was still one of the largest paper producers in the world that year, second only to China. Contributing to the decline of paper production and consumption are changing consumer habits and increased digitalization across various industries. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the U.S. has also made progress in paper recycling, with the recycling rate reaching nearly 67 percent in 2023.

Composition of paper and board market in the United States

Case materials dominated both production and consumption in the U.S. paper and board market. In 2023, case materials accounted for 29.09 million metric tons of consumption and over 54 percent of total production by weight. Case materials have experienced an upward trend in recent years, similar to cartonboard and sanitary papers, each accounting for approximately 10 percent of the paper market in the U.S. in 2023. By comparison, graphic papers’ production has recorded a stable decline in the past decades.