Volume 10, Number 2
Oct 1997

News

Unusual Recycled Newsprint Mill in Bronx

The Banana Kelly Community Association, a Bronx civic group, and the Natural Resources Defense Council have been struggling for years to find financing and get the necessary approvals for their dream, a recycling mill in the middle of the "paper forest" of the New York metropolitan area. It will be called the New York City Paper Mill Inc. The state has agreed to sell tax free bonds to help with financing, and three overseas corporations have become investors. Additional investors are being sought.

Groundbreaking was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 1997 and construction is expected to be complete by 1999. (This is one year later than the date they gave a year ago; see the October 1996 APA, p. 25.) Planned capacity is 220,000 tons per year of newsprint. Other details are in the July Pima's Papermaker on p. 13.

MTI Contracts for Four More PCC Plants

Minerals Technologies, Inc., acting directly or through its international subsidiaries, has signed contracts for construction of four more precipitated calcium carbonate plants in four different countries since April.

The plants will serve the Mondi Ltd. mill at Merebank, in South Africa; the UPM Kymmene mill in Docelles, France; the Haindl Papier mill in Schongau, Germany; and the Champion International mill near Pensacola, Florida. The South African plant is due to start up in the fourth quarter of 1997.

Although a mill can make alkaline paper without having a PCC plant, most mills can operate more economically if they have their own local source. They are also committed to alkaline papermaking for the duration of their contract. This means that publishers, archivists, and other consumers of paper in the area will have an assured source of acid-free paper for publishing and preservation purposes.

Rock-Tenn to buy The Davey Company

The Davey Company, which has furnished binder's board to American bookbinders and institutions for generations, will be purchased by Rock-Tenn Co., another board manufacturer. A definitive agreement has been signed, and Rock-Tenn will acquire most of the assets and certain of the liabilities of The Davey Co. Davey's mills in Jersey City, NJ, and Aurora, IL, as well as certain equipment in Downington, PA, will go to Rock-Tenn. (TJ Jy 97 p 18)

Most Paper under Xerox Label is Now Alkaline

Xerox Corporation sets high performance standards for the paper that is made in the U.S. by five or six mills and sold under its label. Until the last few years, few alkaline papers met those standards, but such problems seem to have been solved, because most of those mills now supply alkaline paper.

News from Printing & Writing Mills

• Simpson Paper Company's mill in West Linn, Oregon, was purchased from James River in 1990, the same year they converted both of their freesheet machines to the alkaline process. It was shut down in September 1996 but purchased by Belgravia Investments Ltd. in March, and was to be opened again in September, operating as an independent company, the West Linn Paper Co. (Pima's P'mkr Ap 97 13)
• Another Simpson mill, the one in Plainwell, Michigan, has found a new owner: The New Group, Inc., which like Belgravia is an investor group. The mill will operate as Plainwell Paper Co. It too is an alkaline mill. The story of its unconventional conversion was printed in this newsletter. (P&P, May 97)
• Fraser Papers moved its headquarters last June. The new address is:

  70 Seaview Ave.
  PO Box 10055
  Stamford, CT 06902
  (tel. 203/705-2800; fax 203/705-2801)

• Otis Specialty Papers, in Jay, Maine, was purchased by Wausau Paper Mills in May. Its previous owner was Rexam Inc.
• Repap Enterprises Inc., whose acquisition was recently vetoed by Avenor shareholders, failed to find a buyer for the entire company, but it has agreed to sell its American subsidiary, Repap USA Inc., to Consolidated Papers Inc. of Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Repap USA has one mill, Repap Wisconsin, which manufactures coated papers and is located in Kimberly, WI. It also has a sales subsidiary, Repap Sales Corp. Ag97 Pima's P'mkr p 8

President to Use Paper with Postconsumer Fiber

After he issued Executive Order 12873 requiring Federal agencies to buy recycled paper, President Clinton was expected to use it himself, to set a good example. He was using cotton fiber stationery for its archival quality. Cotton counts as recycled fiber, but the Executive Order calls for at least 20% postconsumer content.

The Government Purchasing Project, a Ralph Nader organization, pressed the case, although Fran McPoland, the federal environmental executive, said that the case was not very strong, because the line between compliance and noncompliance was very fine with a product like cotton.

There are only three mills in the U.S. with the ability to make post-consumer recycled content cotton. One of them is Crane which makes Crane's Crest from worn-out sheets and blankets, among other things. At last report, the President was considering Crane's Crest.

Greenpeace Downsizes

Greenpeace plans to cut its U.S. budget by nearly a third and close its 10 regional offices outside Washington next year.

The 25-year-old environmental protest group will reduce its U.S. staff from 400 to 65 employees, cut its $29 million budget to $21 million, and focus on only a few issues in this country--primarily global climate change and logging.

Alkaline Papermaking Spreads to Eastern Europe

In the paper industry literature in Romania, Poland, and Russia, articles have appeared making the point that alkaline papermaking is feasible, economical and environmentally beneficial, apparently in an effort to introduce the idea to the industry. The articles are written not by librarians and other consumers, but by employees of companies that would like to supply alkaline size, retention agents, new biocides for the alkaline environment and so on.

Counties elsewhere in Europe seem to be further along: Portugal, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, consumer advocates for alkaline and permanent paper have been very active. They act as individuals, or in small groups, or as representatives of cultural institutions at first, not in large organizations like recycling enthusiasts.