The role of a recovered paper buyer at a paper mill is “an incredibly complex job,” said Bill Moore to the audience of attendees gathered for the “Mill Buyers’ Panel” session at the 2015 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference, hosted by the Recycling Today Media Group Oct. 14-16 in Chicago.
Moore, moderator of the session and a principal with the Atlanta-based consulting group Moore & Associates, noted that the job position is sometimes misunderstood by mill management.
“It’s very different than purchasing chemicals, supplies and other raw materials,” Moore said of recovered fiber buyers for paper mills.
What adds to the complexity of a mill buyer’s role is that “every day is a new challenge,” said Michelle Taylor, general manager of the Indianapolis Recycle Plant for WestRock, Norcross, Georgia, and a speaker on the panel.
Among WestRock’s global footprint in 30 countries, the consumer and corrugated packaging company’s facilities include 105 corrugated converting locations, 34 folding carton plants, 33 corrugated and consumer mills, 23 recycling facilities and 15 packaging partition plants, among numerous other facilities. Taylor said WestRock’s paper solutions include paperboard, containerboard/kraft paper, pulp and recycling all grades of recovered fiber and nonfiber materials. WestRock’s packaging solutions include beverage; corrugated container; folding carton; home, health and beauty; merchandising displays; and partitions and protective packaging.
Taylor said, “We’re challenged on both the supply and the mill side.”
Stability is significant when it comes to suppliers, said Stephanie Bouchard, procurement manager of recycled fibers for Montreal-based Kruger Inc.
Moore, moderator of the session and a principal with the Atlanta-based consulting group Moore & Associates, noted that the job position is sometimes misunderstood by mill management.
“It’s very different than purchasing chemicals, supplies and other raw materials,” Moore said of recovered fiber buyers for paper mills.
What adds to the complexity of a mill buyer’s role is that “every day is a new challenge,” said Michelle Taylor, general manager of the Indianapolis Recycle Plant for WestRock, Norcross, Georgia, and a speaker on the panel.
Among WestRock’s global footprint in 30 countries, the consumer and corrugated packaging company’s facilities include 105 corrugated converting locations, 34 folding carton plants, 33 corrugated and consumer mills, 23 recycling facilities and 15 packaging partition plants, among numerous other facilities. Taylor said WestRock’s paper solutions include paperboard, containerboard/kraft paper, pulp and recycling all grades of recovered fiber and nonfiber materials. WestRock’s packaging solutions include beverage; corrugated container; folding carton; home, health and beauty; merchandising displays; and partitions and protective packaging.
Taylor said, “We’re challenged on both the supply and the mill side.”
Stability is significant when it comes to suppliers, said Stephanie Bouchard, procurement manager of recycled fibers for Montreal-based Kruger Inc.
Kruger is involved in a number of sectors, including packaging, containerboard, tissue products and publication papers, among others, Bouchard said. The company’s recycling division is involved in sourcing recycled fiber for its mills; sourcing biomass for its boiler/cogeneration plants; external sales and collecting and sorting operations.
Bouchard said as quality continues to decline globally in the recovered paper sector, supply must be stable.
“Working with suppliers on stability year-round is the key,” Bouchard said, adding, “Every time we have to go in the spot market for one reason or the other, quality and efficiency [are] affected.”
By selecting stable supplies, she said, the company ensures it “knows the pack” and is capable of running the material through its machines.
Forming a close relationship with suppliers was the advice each speaker suggested when asked by an audience member during the Q&A session, “What types of things would you recommend for a new OCC (old corrugated containers) buyer?”
Taylor responded, “Supplier relationships with a mill buyer is very important.”
John Hamilton, manager, global sourcing, for Chicago-based USG Corp., said, “Know your spec, understand [suppliers] are not always going to ship out the same quality day in and day out.”
Ted Gloeckler of GP Harmon Recycling, Jericho, New York, and another panelist, offered, “Suppliers value picking up their material in a timely manner.”
Bouchard completed the round of advice for the new buyer by stating, “Follow your tons; know where they’re going and what’s happening.”
Understanding the market also is necessary, Bouchard said. She referenced Thursday’s Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference session “PSI Paper Grades – Learn how Specifications may be Changing."
Bouchard said as quality continues to decline globally in the recovered paper sector, supply must be stable.
“Working with suppliers on stability year-round is the key,” Bouchard said, adding, “Every time we have to go in the spot market for one reason or the other, quality and efficiency [are] affected.”
By selecting stable supplies, she said, the company ensures it “knows the pack” and is capable of running the material through its machines.
Forming a close relationship with suppliers was the advice each speaker suggested when asked by an audience member during the Q&A session, “What types of things would you recommend for a new OCC (old corrugated containers) buyer?”
Taylor responded, “Supplier relationships with a mill buyer is very important.”
John Hamilton, manager, global sourcing, for Chicago-based USG Corp., said, “Know your spec, understand [suppliers] are not always going to ship out the same quality day in and day out.”
Ted Gloeckler of GP Harmon Recycling, Jericho, New York, and another panelist, offered, “Suppliers value picking up their material in a timely manner.”
Bouchard completed the round of advice for the new buyer by stating, “Follow your tons; know where they’re going and what’s happening.”
Understanding the market also is necessary, Bouchard said. She referenced Thursday’s Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference session “PSI Paper Grades – Learn how Specifications may be Changing."
Gloeckler added that “that session made a lot of sense.”
During that session, the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), Washington, introduced two new recovered paper grades to the industry that derive from single-stream material recovery facilities (MRFs): sorted clean news (SCN) and sorted residential paper (SRP). SCN replaces No. 9 news, according to the PSI, and is “paper going off the end of the line.” SRP is nearly the same as sorted mixed paper, however, brown grades are not removed from the mix.
The PSI also introduced two new mixed grades: sorted mixed paper and sorted hard mix, which consists of OCC, other brown grades and grocery bags, boxboard cartons and household papers. This mix may contain up to 10 percent white or colored papers, PSI said. Sorted mixed paper consists of all paper and paperboard of various qualities with prohibitive materials now allowed to exceed 2 percent.
Bouchard was referring to a question presented by an audience member who asked if the panelists had faith in the PSI specifications committee’s efforts.
“It’s not an easy thing to do what PSI takes on with paper grades. This past year has been the best the [PSI specifications] committee is quite open to consider questions,” said Moore.
While on the subject of paper grades, Moore said if there is one grade that is going to be produced more and has a better opportunity for oversupply, it is mixed paper. “Right now [mixed paper] relies on exports as there’s not a lot of domestic buyers,” he said.
Hamilton said USG Corp. no longer uses mixed paper. “We have a number of projects on how to make paper different than we’re already doing,” he said.
In the audience, Al Metauro of Cascades Recovery Inc. and Green by Nature EPR, asked the panelists, “Is there something in mixed paper that you can’t use? Can we create something new?”
Taylor said while there isn’t anything undesirable in the mix, “We have a preconsumer mill that is going for cost savings.”
Taylor and Gloeckler both agreed that the single-stream commercial mix their companies collect tends to be better quality than mixed paper.
In addition to mixed paper, Hamilton said OCC has an expected increase in capacity upcoming. While pricing has prompted USG Corp. to move away from using No. 9 newspaper, said Hamilton, the company is exploring other grades. The specifics, however, Hamilton would not disclose, saying, “We look to innovate and we know what grades to move to and we won’t disclose those,” he said.
The 2016 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference will return to the Marriott Downtown Chicago Magnificent Mile Oct. 19-21. Updated information will be available at www.RecyclingTodayEvents.com as it’s made available.
During that session, the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), Washington, introduced two new recovered paper grades to the industry that derive from single-stream material recovery facilities (MRFs): sorted clean news (SCN) and sorted residential paper (SRP). SCN replaces No. 9 news, according to the PSI, and is “paper going off the end of the line.” SRP is nearly the same as sorted mixed paper, however, brown grades are not removed from the mix.
The PSI also introduced two new mixed grades: sorted mixed paper and sorted hard mix, which consists of OCC, other brown grades and grocery bags, boxboard cartons and household papers. This mix may contain up to 10 percent white or colored papers, PSI said. Sorted mixed paper consists of all paper and paperboard of various qualities with prohibitive materials now allowed to exceed 2 percent.
Bouchard was referring to a question presented by an audience member who asked if the panelists had faith in the PSI specifications committee’s efforts.
“It’s not an easy thing to do what PSI takes on with paper grades. This past year has been the best the [PSI specifications] committee is quite open to consider questions,” said Moore.
While on the subject of paper grades, Moore said if there is one grade that is going to be produced more and has a better opportunity for oversupply, it is mixed paper. “Right now [mixed paper] relies on exports as there’s not a lot of domestic buyers,” he said.
Hamilton said USG Corp. no longer uses mixed paper. “We have a number of projects on how to make paper different than we’re already doing,” he said.
In the audience, Al Metauro of Cascades Recovery Inc. and Green by Nature EPR, asked the panelists, “Is there something in mixed paper that you can’t use? Can we create something new?”
Taylor said while there isn’t anything undesirable in the mix, “We have a preconsumer mill that is going for cost savings.”
Taylor and Gloeckler both agreed that the single-stream commercial mix their companies collect tends to be better quality than mixed paper.
In addition to mixed paper, Hamilton said OCC has an expected increase in capacity upcoming. While pricing has prompted USG Corp. to move away from using No. 9 newspaper, said Hamilton, the company is exploring other grades. The specifics, however, Hamilton would not disclose, saying, “We look to innovate and we know what grades to move to and we won’t disclose those,” he said.
The 2016 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference will return to the Marriott Downtown Chicago Magnificent Mile Oct. 19-21. Updated information will be available at www.RecyclingTodayEvents.com as it’s made available.
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