Volume 4, Number 1
Feb 1991

News

A Big Machine

The new machine at Boise Cascade's International Falls mill probably qualifies as the biggest in this country--not because of its physical volume, but because of the amount of paper it can turn out, 308,000 short tons per year. The trim is 350" (over 29'). The machine runs 3500-4000 feet per minute, which works out to 35-40 miles an hour.

ISO Update

The International Organization for Standardization's permanent paper working group will have its fourth meeting in Copenhagen this May, and expects to have a draft ready this year for a vote by members of the subcommittee to which the working group reports. The specifications in the current draft are listed in a table in this issue of the APA. They do not include a required accelerated aging test because the group found, as a result of intercalibration tests performed, that they added no new information. Any paper that met the requirements for pH, alkaline reserve, Kappa number and relative freedom from mechanical pulp also passed the aging test.

On the agenda for the Copenhagen meeting is a new work item, a standard for archival paper called "Paper for Durable Documents." How it will differ from the standard now being worked on is not clear, since both cover documents and both include (or will include) measures of durability or strength.

NISO Invites Paper Companies to use Infinity Symbol

The infinity sign in a circle: is a registered trademark of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), which wants it to be used by other people whenever appropriate, to identify paper conforming to ANSI Z39.48-1984, Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. (This standard does not yet cover coated printing papers, but is being revised to cover both coated and uncoated.) Already a number of publishers are putting the symbol, along with a statement of compliance, in books they publish. NISO would also like for it to be known that a paper companies may use the symbol to identify permanent paper. (This would mean that the paper is not only alkaline, but buffered, free of groundwood, and able to meet fairly modest strength requirements for tear and fold.)

For a copy of the standard, contact Transaction Publishers, Dept. NISO Standards, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (201/932-2280). The $10 purchase price can be paid in cash or with a credit card.

For a "stat sheet" with camera-ready symbols, all sizes, contact Pat Harris, NISO, PO Box 1056, Bethesda, MD 20817 (301/975-2814).

Recycled Paper

The December In-Plant Printer says public attention to recycling issues has shifted from saving trees to saving landfill spare to possible pollution resulting from recycling. Postconsumer waste is usually deinked and sometimes bleached when it is recycled for use in fine paper, and some of those deinking and bleaching chemicals go into the environment. In Europe, where they recycle more paper than we do, the recycling process is already heavily legislated.

Eastern Fine Paper, which converted to alkaline in 1989, has announced that all its mill brands now meet EPA guidelines for recycled paper content and will bear a recycled content symbol to show this.

Printing on Recycled and Alkaline Paper

A one-day GATF workshop on "Printing on Recycled and Alkaline Paper," taught by John E. Peters, will be offered six times during May and June 1991. (Maybe these are not workshops; they are referred to as seminars and programs in the schedule from GATF.) Each one is locally sponsored, and each one has a different contact person and telephone number to call. For a schedule of the programs, contact Maria Harris, Communications Manager, Graphic Arts Technical Foundation: 412/621-6941.

Papermakers Program Set

The January Tappi Journal lists the papers planned for the Papermakers Conference, April 8-10 in Seattle. There will be separate sessions on fillers in mechanical grades, sizing, and paper permanence. Papers given will include the following:

PCC Fillers for Groundwood Paper - D. Evans and D. Drummond
Development of Acid Stable PCC for Mechanical Pulps - V.K. Mathur
Use of Alum to Improve ASA Sizing Efficiency in Alkaline Paper - C.E. Farley
Impact of CTMP on Paper Permanence - R.W. Johnson