Cascades Wins ISRI Annual Design for Recycling Award

According to Cascades, to be considered for the Design for Recycling Award, candidates must demonstrate progress toward ensuring that the products they create can be recycled safely and economically, using existing recycling technologies and methods; eliminating or significantly reducing materials that may impede recycling, including hazardous or toxic materials; increasing the yield of a product's recyclable materials; and increasing the use of recycled materials in the manufacturing process.

Cascades received the award for developing and implementing a 100-percent-recycled and recyclable ream wrapper for its fine papers that eliminates plastic contaminants, reduces waste and turns material that would have ended up in a landfill into a recyclable commodity.

In a release announcing the winner of the award, ISRI President Robin Wiener, says, “Most companies and design engineers are rightly concerned with things like consumer needs, production costs, energy efficiency and safety. But rarely do you find companies that put emphasis on what happens to their products when they have reached the end of their useful life. It is evident that Cascades is one such company that is concerned with overall life cycle of their products and producer product responsibility.”

Julie Loyer, communication and sustainable development advisor at Cascades Specialty Products Group, says, “Having to discard the wrapper because it contaminated the paper recycling process was an issue for us. We created a multi-disciplinary team to find a solution and we created a packaging that is as environmentally friendly as the paper it wraps. We are proud of the result and also being recognized for such by the Design for Recycling Award.”