Volume 05, Number 4
Sep 1992

Letter

To the Editor:

Mead's Publishing Paper division in Escanaba, Michigan, has just completed the alkaline conversion of the last of its three paper machine systems. As of June 8, the Escanaba mill's #4 paper machine system began making alkaline paper. The #1 machine made the switch in February 1989, and #3 machine followed suit in August 1991.

Nearly half of all the paper made by Mead is now acid-free. All paper made at our Chilpaco mill in Chillicothe, Ohio, is alkaline-based. Conversions have begun at the Chillicothe mill (we actually have two mills in the city of Chillicothe) and trials have been made at our Kingsport, Tennessee, mill.

Increasingly, our customers are preferring alkaline-based paper over paper containing an acid base. They like its enhanced opacity and brightness, greater suppleness and improved printability. Librarians, authors and book publishers value its archival properties, while other customers appreciate the fact that alkaline papermaking saves energy and wood fiber and allows us to recycle wastewater.