Collection, Quality, and Industrial Processing of Paper for Recycling: A Wide Range of Topics at the INGEDE Symposium on February 13, 2019, in Munich

The challenges increase, not only for the deinkers among paper mills – it becomes more and more difficult to produce new graphic paper from paper for recycling at economically reasonable conditions. Rising prices for paper for recycling increase the costs, at the same time the availability of graphic paper is going down – people read less newspapers, the newspapers become thinner due to less advertising, and the paper collected for recycling contains more and more packaging. Concerned about the quantity of their supplies it becomes more and more difficult for the paper mills to keep up their requirements for high quality. A helpful aspect is the increasing importance of ecolabels such as the Blue Angel or the EU Ecolabel for printed products, for which also the removability of printing inks has to be proven.

Quality is not only important for deinking grades, also the manufacturers of corrugated papers and board. The “Amazon impact” on paper recycling: More packaging means more board in the recycling bins – and there is already less graphic paper due to less newspaper readers. This affects the whole value chain, not only the collection, also sorting and quality control. The revised European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive provides new challenges and new chances: What to do with clean food packaging?

Undeinkable Prints can Create Problems in the Recycling Process, new LED-UV ink is Deinkable!

Some might remember that prints with liquid toner from HP Indigo are not suitable for the deinking process. Nothing has changed about this! But: In France, there is finally a joint appeal to establish a separate collection for Indigo printer waste “so that their recycling can take place in a process where these prints do not disrupt deinking”. One presentation will illustrate more aspects of the French Eco-Design Action Plan by CRITEO, the successor of Ecofolio and Eco-Emballages.

Similar problems can arise from UV-curable inks – here the inks cross-link due to a polymerisation induced by UV light sources. In many cases the resulting large particles are not sufficiently separable, also because they are not as water-repellent (hydrophobic) compared to traditional offset inks. But here the increased research has led to success: At the INGEDE Symposium, a new deinkable LED-UV ink will be presented, and the efforts behind the development of this ink. This ink is also free from the recently banned photo initiators.

Quality of Paper for Recycling Continues to be a European Issue

Different collection rates in different European countries continue to be a challenge. In his keynote presentation, Ulrich Leberle of CEPI in Brussels will explain the measures for a circular economy that the European Commission aims at together with the European paper industry.

Less Readers, Less Paper: Paper Machine Converted to Produce Board

Less newspapers, less demand – one presentation will demonstrate how a former newsprint mill has been converted to produce packaging. And where have all the readers gone? Do they read electronic media? Barbara Scheuer, Vice President Production at Random House, in her keynote presentation will give some insight about the challenges for a publishing house to also cope with the environmental expectations of the readers.

30 Years INGEDE!

Since its establishment in 1989, INGEDE for 30 years now deals with the common problems of the deinkers. INGEDE has become well known also for the development of test methods that in the meantime have become established and reliable international standards. Many ecolabels for printed products are based on these standards. The founding chairman Bernhard Steinbeis will look back.

Registration: Free of charge for member companies and the press, for all others please understand that we charge a nominal fee to cover our expenses. Please contact us for an invitation if you’re not on our mailing list yet. The venue, “Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft”, is within walking distance from Munich Central Station.

You are welcome to join us for the upcoming INGEDE Symposium on February 13, 2019 in Munich! Hear and discuss with us about recent topics in paper recycling! The INGEDE Symposium is the only international meeting covering all aspects from paper recovery to quality aspects to process engineering issues. The full program together with updated details is attached and available on our website www.ingede.com/symposium.