News

Two P/W Mills Achieve ISO Certification

Georgia Pacific's big Ashdown, Arkansas, mill was registered--or certified; terminology varies--under the ISO 9002 quality standard December 3, 1993. Last year Specialty Minerals announced that they would build a PCC plant for this mill, so it should not be too long before Georgia Pacific announces that it now makes alkaline paper.

Cross Pointe's Flambeau Mill in Park Falls, Wisconsin, achieved ISO 9001 registration November 24. It produces virgin and recycled uncoated freesheet. The company's Miami Mill in West Carrollton, Ohio, as well as the company's headquarters and its International Distribution Center in West Chicago, are also working toward certification.

Deodorizing Paper Developed by International Paper

A highly filled, lightweight paper incorporating a deodorizing powder called Abscents®has been developed by International Paper for a variety of personal care, industrial, medical and consumer products. Abscents®is a hydrophobic molecular sieve that absorbs odors rather than masking them. It was produced by UOP, a company in Des Plaines, Illinois.

What ISO's Technical Committee 46 is Doing Now

In the International Organization for Standardization, two Technical Committees (TC) cooperated to produce the standard ISO 9706, Information and Documentation--Paper for Documents--Requirements for Permanence; they are TC 46 (librarians, generally) and TC 6 (papermakers, generally). That standard is in press, and should appear soon.

Now TC 46 Subcommittee 10 has four working groups (WG), which are considering the following topics:

WG 1	Archival papers--Requirements for permanence and durability	Convener: Per Olaf Bethge, Sweden
WG 2	Permanence of writing, printing and copying media on paper documents--Requirements and testing methods	Project leader: Marie Louise Samuelsson, Sweden
WG 3	Document storage requirements	Convener: Helmut Bansa, Germany
WG 4	Recommendations for binding materials and binding practices	Convener: Poul Steen Larsen, Denmark

New Alkaline Sizing Agents Introduced

Roe Lee Canada began producing a ketene dimer size last year at its Cornwall, Ontario plant. The January issue of Pulp & Paper Canada says (p. 15) that Roe Lee Canada has signed a contract to supply Domtar with its products.

Hercules has a converter task team that has been studying converters' problems with alkaline paper, which sometimes feeds poorly in high-speed converting equipment. As a result, according to the March Pulp & Paper, it has developed a new sizing agent named Precis 2000.

One National Recycling Goal Met; Another Set

In 1989 the American Forest & Paper Association (AFPA) announced that the American paper industry would try to recover and recycle 40% of all the paper used in America by 1995. This goal was met in 1993. A new goal has been set: 50% by 2000. Both recovery and consumption are expected to grow at a healthy pace, and investment in recycling capacity is expected to grow by more than a billion dollars a year between now and 2000.

Progress in Recycling

The Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) has a Recycled Paper Research Team that is working on problems in deinking technology, reversal of hornification and strength loss effects, and increasing the yield of fiber from the recycling process.

International Paper is now making 100% recycled printing and writing papers from old newspapers and magazines. They have a "characteristic gray tone," and are produced in the Lock Haven mill in Pennsylvania. The new papers will be marketed under the Hammermill and Springhill brands.

Canadian Comment on Clinton's Executive Order on Recycling

NFRP Portfolio is the newsletter of Noranda Forest Recycled Papers. The November/December 1993 issue carried an informative little commentary:

Presidential Order on Recycling

On October 26 [actually, Oct. 20], 1993, the long awaited Presidential Executive Order on Recycling was issued. While the Order constitutes definitions for recycled papers for Federal Government Procurement, it is important to recognize that the Federal Government is only responsible for approximately 2% of all commercial printing done in the US.

While the definitions for recycled and post-consumer content are similar to those spelled out in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, from which the Environmental Choice Program was born, there are three major differences: (1) it appears that the Executive Order is based on total fiber weight and not total weight (remember--paper contains moisture and papermaking additives of varying degrees based on the grade, in addition to fiber), (2) by requiring only 20% post-consumer with no overall recycled content, President Clinton is neglecting the greater value of recycled and post-consumer combination which serves to divert greater quantities of waste from landfill and (3) there is also no requirement that the supplying mills be in compliance with federal, provincial (state) or municipal environmental legislation.... (3B3.6)

The Wood Shortage

In Canada, the supply of good quality softwood (from evergreen trees) is "steadily decreasing," according to an article in the December 1993 Pulp & Paper Canada, p. 130-135. In eastern Canada, harvesting of softwood roundwood is approaching the allowable annual cut, and it has become necessary to augment the supply with sawmill waste. Softwood pulp is used for the manufacture of newsprint, directories and catalogs.

In the same issue, on p. 140-146, an article looks into the suitability of second-growth lodgepole pine as a candidate for sustainable development. Since trees are now being harvested earlier in their life cycle than they were before, a larger proportion is juvenile wood. Now trees may have less than 15% juvenile wood, but in the future they may have as much as 50%.