Discussion

By Axel Fischer on Sep 05, 2019

Nice statements, but there are hardly any thoughts about recycling and recyclability. The paper value chain can only work if the end product CAN go back into the loop and WILL go back into the loop, so not only downcycling for packaging in China but also recycling into printing and writing grades. This would bee the loop but seems hardly to be the case any more in the US? So recyclability (of printed products) is not an issue that paper mills as a part of the paper value chain are dealing with?

Axel Fischer
INGEDE
Munich, Germany

By Richard Romano on Sep 05, 2019

Axel, thanks for the comment. Recycling and recyclability are absolutely an essential part of that loop or circular value chain, whether, as Ms. Yardley said, working with mills to reclaim and recycle unused printed product or—at the front end of the process—using recycled grades. Most mills, Rolland included, offer recycled papers for just about every print application and the runnability has improved greatly.

By Axel Fischer on Sep 05, 2019

Richard, seems that this is as you state, unused or production waste, but no post consumer? To close the loop? The last ones doing post consumer in the US were Blue Heron and Alsip, but they all went out of business? We have the problem in Europe that US companies as HP do not care much about recyclability as there is no lobby from the paper side in the US to promote it.

By Mike Cloghessy on Sep 06, 2019

At our in plant we try to source 100% recycled standard 8.5" X 11" 20# paper. It is getting more and more difficult each year. On the other side of the coin, in the abstract, we need virgin fiber papers in order to create the recycled sheet. There is a push in many companies to go paperless. I'm not sure I agree. Paper is made from a renewable resource. It is recyclable, and at the point it can't be recyclable it is compostable. That cannot be said about our smart phones and computers which are essential in a paperless society.