European Paper Recycling Conference: Craving Consistency

Once recycled paper machines and mills are online, they can best be fed through long-term buying from valued partners, say mill buyer panelists who spoke at the European Paper Recycling Conference, which took place in Brussels in early October.

“Buying consistently leads to supplier understanding of our fiber specs,” said Tony Denny of Harmon International Ltd., the U.K.-based buying arm for European mills operated by Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta.

While Harmon seeks long-term, consistent relationships, Denny said Harmon lets recyclers know that they are expected to ship clean, high-yield loads. “We’ll import [recovered fiber] from America, which sounds more expensive, but the yield at the headbox can be much better,” Denny remarked.

Seeking European supply, Denny said Harmon International is emulating its U.S. sister company by beginning to place balers at generating sites to procure clean, captive tons for its mills.

Obtaining such clean and consistent loads fits in with Harmon’s overall goal of maintaining a large supplier network of sources that can guarantee a supply to the mills in all market conditions, said Denny.

Johan van der Zwaag of the Norske Skag office in Belgium says the global papermaker operates nine mills using some 5 million metric tons of recovered fiber. This capacity represents a large investment in recovered fiber feedstock that is put into place to last some 40 to 50 years, van der Zwaag noted.

He remarked that Norske Skag has observed recovered fiber pricing becoming less volatile, although the challenge of increased buying from Chinese mills has caused an overall upward trend.

In the U.K., Peter McGuinness of Severnside Recycling noted that his company supplies fiber to St. Regis Paper, the largest consumer of scrap paper in the U.K. with some 1.8 million metric tons of annual consumption.

Challenges for mill buyers there include the temptation for more U.K. recyclers to export rather than keep scrap paper in the British Isles, and the reduction in quality of the domestic fiber supply because of increased commingled residential collection.

In such a climate, long-term relationships will prove crucial, McGuinness predicted. “As competition for fiber intensifies and mills come under increased market pressure, only those who have access to secure and economically priced fiber will succeed,” he stated.

Moderator Jori Ringmann of paper association CEPI, based in Brussels, urged recyclers and mill buyers alike to avoid the term “waste paper,” as it tends to place recovered fiber in the solid waste category in the minds of those not familiar with the industry.

The European Paper Recycling Conference was hosted by the Recycling Today Media Group and took place at the Hilton Brussels.