FMN Paper Supplement -- Paper Recycling Changes Dynamically

What is in store for the future in paper recycling? That is a question that members of the industry ponder routinely. And what do we mean by "the future?" The answer is based upon your perspective – it could be tomorrow, next week next month, or next quarter. At most, many look at trends that may occur next year. More realistically, a view of the next two to five years is necessary for a clear picture of where the paper recycling industry is heading.

The major trend coming for generators will be collection and processing systems that can handle more mixed materials. The common perception is that the collection of recyclable material has not evolved much from over the years. However, new methods for collecting material have been developing gradually over the past ten years. Residential curbside collection has gone from almost exclusive source separation in the mid-1980s to routine implementation of commingled collection.

Some advanced programs already have the paper, bottle and can fractions mixed together. In the long run, generators will not tolerate the separation of materials into a large number of categories. This trend can also be seen in the high grade deinking sector. Tissue mills have shifted from using only sorted white ledger and laser-free computer paper to using more mixed office grades. The printing and writing sector is starting most of its new recycling mills substantially on sorted office mixed paper, consisting of a blend of white and colored paper, along with CPO and other papers typically generated in an office environment. In fact, most of the growth in the use of deinking grades over the next few years will come from facilities geared to convert office paper into deinked pulp which is used to make new printing and writing paper.

A slow movement that will take decades to fully implement is designing buildings with recycling programs in mind. California, the northeastern U.S. and Florida lead the nation in requiring buildings to be designed around advanced solid waste management systems. Architects are understanding the need to include these approaches in the design of buildings. At minimum, this will mean larger loading docks to aid in the logistics of handling, compacting and loading recyclables.

One of the driving forces for minimizing the number of sortation categories is the need to compact recyclables to maximize the tonnage loaded in collection trucks.

Along with compaction, residential collection vehicles will have fewer compartments and will carry a heavier payload than is now routine. There has been gradual progress in the design of residential recycling vehicles over the past ten years. Over the next five years, collection efficiencies will improve and MRFs will become more streamlined, and the cost, which in some cases is a major burden today, will be reduced.

The solid waste management industry will continue to play a larger role in paper recycling. Larger haulers and recycling collectors will essentially meet in the middle and become "material managers." Smaller and medium solid waste haulers, on a percentage basis, will probably grow faster in recycling involvement than larger players.

The smaller waste management companies will see a sharp increase in recycling collection of material throughout internal adjustments in collection patterns, rather than through acquisitions of existing facilities.

We will likely see the return of "drive" collection for certain niche materials; e.g., old magazines. It was not too long ago when almost all old newsprint was collected via citizen-sponsored drives. With continued strong pricing and the uniqueness of the distribution of certain materials, this approach will again be implemented.

Material recovery facilities will become more like manufacturing operations. They will be larger in size, handle more tonnage, and be regional in nature. These new facilities will run multiple shifts, and in some cases will operate 24 hours a day.

What these facilities offer are more mechanically-designed operations that allow for a consistent quality product, while limiting manual labor costs. Increased automation at the MRF will allow for more consistent loads being delivered to the end consumer.

The material recovery facility will be looked upon as an operation that processes a raw material into a higher value-added product. This will include tighter specifications for the finished product, and the application of statistical quality control. All major manufacturing facilities, the paper industry included, operate by SQC. This approach has grown out of the Japanese approach to quality production. It has always been known that higher quality recovered paper will attract more attention in the marketplace, and this trend will continue to be exploited by the best operators in the business.

The use of bale tags, presently used at a sizable number of paper mills, will continue to flourish. Bar codes, a more revolutionary concept, though currently used on only a limited basis, could evolve into a more accepted practice as it is in other industries.

Along with the trend to collect materials in a more mixed manner, and applying more technology at the MRF, the stock preparation systems at the mills will need to be designed to handle lower grades. It is far more cost effective to clean up secondary fiber streams in a wet system at the mill than to hand pick at the MRF.

Residential mixed paper will continue to grow as a source of furnish for the pulp and paper industry. Cities and mills will work together to produce grades of residential mixed paper in quantities and quality that are cost effective and usable. The need for residential mixed paper should continue to grow as new facilities come on line seeking more high value printing and writing paper. The collection of this material, while only done at a modest level on the municipal side, will correspondingly grow as more material is tapped at the corporate level.

Systems will be developed to measure stock prep yield on an on-line basis. Paper machines are some of the most highly automated and process-controlled manufacturing facilities in the world. Yet, often minimal attention is paid to yield. In many mills, a conscious trade-off is made between yield and quality. It will be unacceptable to have low yield in the future, and the only way to manage this is to improve the measuring to the point of being on-line. This will include such advanced technologies as automated bale weight and moisture measurement. Bale moisture measurement will evolve out of the equipment presently used to measure moisture in market pulp bales.

Price differentials for recycled content of finished product will disappear over the next few years. We are already seeing this happen in deinked market pulp. In the long run, since most paper and board produced in the U.S. will have some recycled content, pricing between virgin and recycled fiber will become moot.

The U.S. newsprint recycled content laws and goals will wreak havoc on ONP pricing and world groundwood fiber balance. These laws and goals served the purpose to prime the pump and increase ONP prices. However, they distort the free market approach of the U.S. economy, and will cause bad public policy and business decisions to be made.

While a retreat from recycled content in newsprint is not expected, many goals that have been set for the next five years will probably be lowered. Without movement in this area, the capital and operating cost structure of the Canadian and U.S. newsprint industry could cause an upheaval in the world market.

With the continuing growth of electronic transfer, we could see a slowing of the growth of printing and writing papers. During the last 20 years, this high-profit sector of the industry has grown rapidly. Just at the point where we see increased deinking in the printing and writing grades, the overall sector will begin to slow its growth. Since the process of deinking to make printing and writing grades is difficult, and a higher recovery rate collection of office papers will be necessary, this will probably not be a bad trend for both collectors and mills.

We have seen it coming. Every day the world changes. In fact, paper recycling is a dynamic area which has featured profound changes almost every five years. Deinking mill technology considered state-of-the-art today could be obsolete in five years. The changes in trends are, by and large, positive, for only by increased proficiency, improved technology and cooperation by all parties will we continue to advance paper recycling in the U.S.