Alberta Newsprint Closing Recycling Line

Alberta Newsprint of Whitecourt, Alberta, which added a de-inking and recycling pilot plant to its newsprint mill in the early 1990s, decided there was no longer a business case to continue or expand the recycling operation, said Iain Thomson, the mill's general manager.

"We only used three to four percent recycled content in our newsprint. It's very small by today's standards," Thomson said.

"The volume is very small by world scale."

Modern mills use a higher content of recycled product and the 10,000 to 12,000 metric tons a year, mostly from Edmonton, was not enough to sustain the pilot plant, Thomson said. It was shut down the end of last month.

The decade-old technology was only able to recover 61 percent of the recycled newsprint, compared to 85 percent or more by modern standards, Thomson said. However, the mill is able to improve its environmental performance without the recycling plant.

"With it down, we will improve our effluent levels and discharge into the (Athabasca) river," Thomson said.

Alberta Newsprint surveyed its customers and for the most part, they were unconcerned about recycled content, Thomson said, as the paper that was being recycled can easily be sold into other markets.

Alberta Newsprint produces 270,000 metric tons of newsprint a year, with all of its output totally committed, mostly to U.S. customers. Edmonton Journal