Paper Recycling Conference: Less News, Less Quality?

A sudden and steep decline in old newspapers (ONP) has caused several dilemmas, according to three executives representing large-volume recycling companies.

At the opening session at the 2011 Paper Recycling Conference held in Chicago in late October, Al Metauro of Toronto-based Cascades Recovery, noted that in one major city in which Cascades operates, ONP has dropped from making up 81 percent of “blue box” post-residential material seven or eight years ago to just 38 percent today.

Vic Rice of Cellmark Recycling, Corte Madera, Calif., concurred that the volume of ONP “has dropped significantly,” adding, “This has had an impact around the world for mills that use this material as a furnish.” The problem for these mills occurs not just because of scarcity, said Rice, but also because of “quality degradation.” Remarked Rice, “There is a narrow gap today between mixed paper and No. 8 news.”

Fellow panelist Pat DeRueda of Waste Management RecycleAmerica (WM), Houston, estimated that at the 107 recycling plants WM operates, ONP has fallen from representing 60 percent of inbound volume several years ago to 38 percent now.

DeRueda added that despite the decline in supply, there continues to be a demand for ONP, and that WM’s plants are likely to continue sorting to produce it. Despite the decline in newspaper readership, DeRueda remarked, “We think we’ll continue to expand our overall fiber tonnage.”

Metauro remarked that municipal collection program managers do not set up programs “to produce No. 8 (deinked) news for mills; they are there to find a home for discarded materials” and recycling plant managers will need to adjust.

Panelists were optimistic that Asian markets would continue to work in tandem with domestic mill demand to keep end markets healthy. “I think there is still growth to come in places like India in the next five to 10 years,” said Rice.

“China has only 4 percent of the world’s forestation, but about 20 percent of its population,” noted DeRueda, who added that OCC (old corrugated container) shipments from the United States to China will likely rise again in 2011.

Metauro said of the recovered fiber business, “We are going through some dynamic times right now.”
Looking back at his three decades in the business, Metauro noted, “During the first part of that, there were not that many recovered fiber-fed mills around. Now, we have mills all over the world depending on secondary fiber as furnish. As part of a mill group, I know about the industry’s reliance on our material. This industry’s got a phenomenal future—I think the last five years have shown that.”

The 2011 Paper Recycling Conference, Partnered with the PSI (Paper Stock Industries Chapter of ISRI), was Oct. 23-25 in Chicago.

(Pictured above, from left: Pat DeRueda, Waste Management Inc.; Vic Rice, Cellmark Recycling; Al Metauro, Cascades Recovery)