Paper Recycling Conference: Made in the U.S.A.

A large audience gathered for the session “Made in the U.S.A.” at this year’s Paper Recycling Conference + Expo, June 22-24, in Chicago. The guest speakers discussed how, with the demand for recovered fiber rising, recyclers can find new ways to increase their supplies.

Mike Oswald, senior vice president and general manager for Smurfit Stone – Recycling, Chicago, Ill., started the session off by reviewing the state of the paper market in the U.S. “The demand for fiber is up, and so is total paper recovery,” Oswald said. “We expect 60 percent recovery in 2012.”

Because of the increase in demand for recovered fiber, Smurfit Stone has installed five new sorting systems and was seeking partnerships with municipalities and waste haulers to operate sort lines, Oswald said. Even with this increase, he said there was more fiber out there that could be reclaimed.

Ron Thiry, vice president of manufacturing for SCA Tissue, North America, Neenah, Wis., described his efforts to navigate the paper market. With the increase in demand for recovered fiber, Thiry said that the industry needed to look into additional mining for fibers, including office collection, rural community collection and sustainability awareness.

SCA Tissue has also made some new investments in its processing equipment, including spending $35 million for upgrades to its deinking system. The message Thiry left with the audience was that the law of supply and demand worked and a balance was shifting and the demand side was growing, so SCA needed to build the supply side.

Steve Ragiel, CEO of Greenstar North America, Houston, says partnerships were the best thing to invest in regarding time and capital. Greenstar is part of the Ireland-based company NTR, which decided to enter into the waste and recycling industry in Ireland in 1999.

Today Greenstar operates 15 facilities in North America and handles more than 1 million tons of recyclables per year. It has also been making investments in bigger facilities as well as bigger equipment, such as balers, screens and optical sorting systems. Along with supplying its customers with more products, Ragiel also said the industry needed to consider alternative uses for fiber, such as ethanol and bio-fuel pellets. “But these are still in its very early stages,” Ragiel said.

Next year’s Recycling Today Media Group’s Paper, Plastics and Electronics Conferences will be held June 7-9 in Atlanta.