Accountable for Success

With today’s technology, communication should be simple. Business people in the 21st century have access to more personal communication devices than ever before, from cell phones and Blackberrys to laptop computers, all designed to keep the lines of communication between colleagues and customers open at all times.

However, even with all the technology available, those lines can still get muddled. For a company like Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., that reaches into nearly every facet of the recovered paper industry, communicating is essential to success. With more than 700 employees in its recycling operations, this is no easy task, which is why the company has recently placed a new management team in charge to help guide it into what’s shaping up to be a solid New Year.

MANNING THE HELM. The new team reflects the company’s renewed focus on clear lines of responsibility, collaboration and accountability, according to Doug Schwartz (pictured at left), managing director for Weyerhaeuser’s containerboard, recycling and corrugated sheet businesses. "The response throughout the organization has been extremely positive—people like being held accountable and given the freedom to do their job," he says.

The new team is comprised of Schwartz, Director of Sales Melanie Harman, Director of Operations Bill Lampe and Director of Procurement Brian Heckle. Schwartz says the business model is meant to allow each individual member of the team to work to his or her specialized skills, simplifying the structure by defining clear responsibilities for each manager. That way, each autonomous member can fully contribute to the group, making the team even greater than the sum of its parts, says Schwartz.

The new team has a proud tradition to carry on. Weyerhaeuser began its recycling division in 1974 to provide old corrugated containers (OCC) to the Weyerhaeuser containerboard mill in North Carolina. Today, the company has eight containerboard mills supplied by 19 recycling facilities. In addition to its containerboard business, Weyerhaeuser also operates the NORPAC news mill in Longview, Wash., which produces recycled content newsprint for the U.S. and Japanese markets as a joint venture with Nippon Paper. The company also supplies fiber to additional end users domestically and abroad and offers secure document destruction services.

The myriad of business activities operating under the Weyerhaeuser Recycling name are organized into four critical areas of business that have to work well together to achieve the company’s goals. Through collaborative efforts, operations, sales, procurement and customer service all contribute to the company’s overall success, says Schwartz.

This vast network of employees is responsible for moving mountains of paper every year. The entire Weyerhaeuser system, including the recycling plants, brokerage and national accounts, managed some 7 million tons of recovered paper in 2006 alone and consumed 3.5 million tons of recovered paper in its containerboard mills and partner newsprint mill.

The material that feeds Weyerhaeuser comes from thousands of sources, including large national retail accounts for which Weyerhaeuser manages the collection services, regional businesses, the company’s own document destruction arm, material recovery facilities (MRFs) and hundreds of local and regional paper dealers, according to Schwartz. Additionally, the company purchases thousands of tons of municipally collected old newspapers (ONP) and old magazines (OMG) for the NORPAC mill.

MINDING THE MARKET. Handling such an array of grades ties much of Weyerhaeuser’s business to the ebb and flow of the global recovered fiber market, which has shown strength in recent years and throughout 2006. "The strong U.S. economy combined with strong export demand has contributed to strong, consistent markets for recovered paper," says Schwartz.

Like many companies in the recovered paper industry, Weyerhaeuser has its eyes on the export market. In addition to Weyerhaeuser’s domestic activity, the company has been operational in China for the past 35 years, supplying the emerging economic superpower’s new mills with recovered fiber and meeting the needs of other mill groups throughout Asia. "In the last decade, recovered paper has become a significant international commodity, and we can add value for our customers by means of working with mills throughout the world," says Schwartz.

With more than 20 years in the business, Schwartz has seen the industry evolve into a global phenomenon. As countries like China modernize, fueling demand for fiber, Schwartz says the industry is likely to face the biggest challenge in the history of paper recycling in meeting that demand. But Schwartz is quick to identify the silver lining in the cloud of insatiable demand for material.

"The challenge is also the opportunity to meet this new and significant recovered paper demand," he says. "Within five years, the world’s paper mills will need as much new recovered paper as all the paper we collect in the U.S. today. We need to significantly ‘pump up the volume’ of recovery of paper in this country."

Increasing recycling rates is key to rising to China’s challenge. Schwartz says he and his team are encouraged that recovery rates in the United States are currently at 51 percent and pleased to see the industry set a new target of 55 percent by 2012. However, he adds that the industry as a whole needs to continue to work on increasing the recovery of paper both domestically and globally. Weyerhaeuser is currently exploring options via its trade association memberships, including the AF&PA and the ISRI, to play a more active role in encouraging more municipal recycling. "It’s estimated that only 55 percent of Americans have residential collections for recycling," says Schwarz. "We would like to see that number increase and think other states could do it if they followed the lead of states like Oregon and Minnesota." He adds that the newly published recovery rate target in Europe is 66 percent. "Others around the world are doing it—so can we," Schwartz says. "It is a cultural issue and one that is not easily changed. But with passion, time and effort, we will see meaningful change."

Schwartz sees both the public and private sector playing significant roles in boosting the recovery rate in the United States. "It is a completely collective and collaborative effort," Schwartz says.

The company is watching with interest methods that are developing at the residential level to encourage higher recovery, such as mandatory laws in places like Seattle and Charlotte, N.C. "Seattle’s recovery is very impressive, and we are hoping that some of this will catch on in areas like the Rocky Mountain region, where recovery of recyclable commodities tends to be low," says Schwartz.

Weyerhaeuser is also paying close attention to the environmental activity of large retail organizations, like Wal-Mart, and their desire to deliver higher volumes of recycled content products to their customers while setting aggressive waste diversion goals.

However, as the industry rallies to increase recovery to meet growing demand, the issue of quality cannot be ignored, especially on the residential front, Schwartz says. "As cities have looked for cost-effective methods to collect residential recyclables, we have witnessed a lessening of the quality, which creates problems for those of us making high quality recycled content paper," he says. "As we, as an industry, dig deeper for paper, we will need to actively manage the quality and cleanliness of the fiber we collect."

BRIGHT OUTLOOK. The paper industry’s long-term prospects are part of what drew Schwartz to the industry and what has kept him there. "It’s an industry where you can make a career and not just have a job," he says.

Such long-term focus on the big picture is a value shared by many at Weyerhaeuser, in addition to a shared passion for ethics and safety, which is part of what makes the company unique, Schwartz adds. "This is a great business and a great industry. We are doing something good, and we have great people," Schwartz says.

Good leadership, a committed staff and encouraging markets are all good signs for Weyerhaeuser, he adds. "The industry is showing signs of strength. Demand is outpacing supply. We must be flexible, be innovative and able to execute. If we do these things, our future is bright," Schwartz says.