Estimating the demand for recycled paper in Iran: based on the ARDL approach

Economic growth and population growth will increase the demand for paper products, while the sources of raw materials for paper products are limited.  One of the solutions that can help preserve natural resources is the recycling of waste paper combined with advances in information and communication technology.  The purpose of this article is to estimate the demand function of recycled paper in Iran's economy during the seasonal period of the years 1379 to 1400, based on autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL).  The results show that the most important factor affecting the demand for recycled paper in the long and short term is the GDP variable, and its elasticity coefficients are estimated to be -0.46 and -0.22, respectively. With an increase in the level of economic activities, the consumption of recycled paper decreases and as a result, recycled paper is considered an inferior product. The variable of printing and writing paper is not a strong enough substitute for recycled paper as a competing product in the long term and short term with the elasticity coefficient of 0.23 and 0.13%, respectively. On the other hand, with an increase in internet users, the demand for recycled paper will increase by 0.08% in the long term. In fact, with the increase in the number of internet users and personal computers, the consumption of office paper due to online purchases and also the increase in demand in the long term for paper Packaging, carton and cardboard increases for custom items.