Paper Department

The recovered fiber industry has been enjoying a strong run lately. Two speakers at the Paper Spotlight session of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Annual Convention in Las Vegas in late April noted the improvement.

Vince Bonfanti of Harmon Associates, a division of Georgia-Pacific dedicated to the collection, processing and brokering of recovered fiber, noted that the recovery level for paper stock has climbed significantly.

While the domestic paper industry has done a good job in collecting more recovered fiber, more needs to be done, Bonfanti added. One of the key reasons is that China has entered the market in a large way and is expected to play a continually growing roll in the recovered fiber market in the U.S.

One issue is the need to further educate U.S. consumers as to the trade-off between higher costs for the raw material and the appearance and quality level of the product, especially in the packaging industry.

He said that consumers will be seeing more shifting of packaging appearances as companies such as G-P delve deeper into the recovered fiber stream.

David Lee, vice president of the Recycling Division of Ralison International Inc., a division of Lee & Man, a large, China-based paper and pulp company, focused on the overall Chinese economy and the issues affecting it.

Lee said the biggest issues facing China include the burgeoning population of the country, the currency valuation compared to the U.S. dollar, the banking system, the overall infrastructure, the number of economic development zones in the country and the number of foreign investments.