European Paper Recycling Conference: Material Issues

Paper recyclers and mills have a solid quality yardstick in the EN 643 document, and a new measuring device could help mills enforce that quality.

In a presentation at the European Paper Recycling Conference, which took place in Brussels in early October, H.M. (Maarten) Kleiweg de Zwaan of the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA), updated attendees on the status of EN 643, a document forged by ERPA and CEPI, the European confederation of paper manufacturers.

Kleiweg noted that the two groups have continued to discuss modifications and updates to EN 643. In an era when more exporting and more single-stream processing is taking place, there is no mention of plastics and other non-paper content that can be found in bales. “This is creating difficulties at customs offices,” said Kleiweg. “If they see a bit of plastic, they can reject it.”

Kleiweg remarked that the paper industry is making clear that “recovered paper pulled from garbage is not suitable for our industry,” particularly at paper mills making food-contact products.

Speaking from the mill side, Guillermo Valles of Spain’s SAICA emphasized that recovered paper has become the paper industry’s raw material of choice, with 45 percent of paper currently produced globally using recovered fiber. “The forecasts show that recovered paper will be the main raw material [utilized] by 2010,” he remarked.

Valles said quality through the entire supply chain will be critical, although he acknowledged, “It’s almost impossible to have a strictly clean material.”

Like Kleiweg, Valles also called for wider attention to the EN 643 document in Europe, and he also urged mills and recyclers to standardize quality testing of materials. It would be his “dream,” said Valles, for all bales to be tested uniformly for quality content and barcoded for tracking purposes, so that producers could be rewarded for high quality and identified for poor quality.

Among the testing procedures gaining acceptance in Europe is a drill sample and spectroscopy system marketed by Germany’s Paper Technology Specialists (PTS ).

A presentation prepared by PTS’ Patrick Plew described how the system quickly drills out a core sample from a bale. That sample is then measured using spectroscopy to determine moisture levels and to check for the presence of plastics or other inorganic compounds.

Plew’s presentation asked and answered the question, “Why do this? When you buy fiber, you don’t want to pay for water; you don’t want to pay for plastic; you don’t want to pay for ash. It’s very difficult to make paper from these materials.”

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