Papermaking technology has drastically improved over the last 20 years to face new challenges. Because environmental regulations have become increasingly strict, papermaking systems have had to accommodate elevated recycled pulp content and an increased use of recycled process water. Process water in papermaking systems has become more dirtier and reduced polymer efficiency. Amphoteric PAM demonstrated a higher degree of stability in a high conductivity environment compared to cationic PAM. This was illustrated by the improved retention performance, particularly the ash retention. This amphoteric polymer can be used for board or newsprint production using recycled pulp, especially for the systems where polymer dissolving water is high in conductivity and degradation of cationic functional groups of cationic PAM can occur.