Paper is a precious raw material – it shall not be wasted. At a seminar on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 in Warsaw, Poland, all members of the paper chain are invited to learn more about eco-design of paper and packaging, life cycle analysis of packaging products and paper recycling strategies. More than 40 participants, among them representatives of collectors, paper mills, and regional administrations, have already registered for this free seminar.

Paper for recycling is raw material, not waste

What was called waste paper earlier is no waste: Unmixed over­print, unsold newspaper and magazines or other forms of used paper free of contaminants “never become waste”.Dr. Ulrich Höke, Mill Manager of Stora Enso’s Sachsen mill will talk about the paper industry’s requirements for the quality of paper for recycling, about the actual collected paper and its processing.

Ever compared the contents of recycling bins from a high-riser or other multi-storey buildings with other bins from detached houses in more rural areas? Prof. Harald Gross­mann, Dresden University of Technology, reports about the differences in the collection of paper for recycling: The single family homes collect almost twice as much graphic paper per capita compared to high-rise apartment buildings!  

To “Improve collection strategies” is one of the goals of the EcoPaperLoop project as well as the title of one of its work pack­ages, headed by Prof. Grossmann. The “Assess­ment of paper based products’ recyclability” is another target of the EcoPaperLoop project. Dr. Hans Putz of Darm­stadt Techni­cal University will present a new test method that has been developed to evaluate the content of adhe­sives and un­recyclable materials in packaging.

The seminar will take place at COBRO, the Polish Pack­aging Research and Development Centre. Here a new Life Cycle Analysis for packaging is under development in cooperation with Innovhub-SSI in Milan, Italy.

The EcoPaperLoop project will run until end of 2014. It is co-funded by the European Union/European Regional Develop­ment Fund (ERDF) and the local project partners.

More details: www.ecopaperloop.eu