Shredded Paper Grows as Fiber Source

The document destruction industry will continue to be a critical source of recovered fiber, according to a panel convened at the fall meeting of the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.

PSI members met in Bonita Springs, Fla., in October for the chapter’s 43^rd fall meeting. Among the sessions held at the meeting was one focusing on the confidential shredding industry and its role in the recovered fiber stream.

At the session, entitled “Document Destruction: Mill Concern For Quality,” speakers seemed to agree on the increased flow of material coming from the document destruction industry and its importance as a new source of fiber.

Paper mill buyers such as Jon Ashley of International Paper and David Knight of SCA Tissue cited some quality and contamination concerns coming from this stream. A general observation from the mill buyers was that material coming from shredding plants was of better quality than that coming from mobile shredding operations.

Robert Johnson, Executive Director of the National Association for Information Destruction, pointed to the fact that the primary service being provided by his association’s member companies is security, with fiber quality a secondary issue

Also at the PSI fall meeting, a presentation was given by PapiNet, a global paper and forest products industry e-business initiative found on the Web at www.PapiNet.org. Several European and North American paper producers and consumers are cooperating through the PapiNet site to “develop, maintain and promote the implementation of standard electronic transaction standards to facilitate the flow of information amongst the parties engaged in the buying, selling, and distribution of forest, paper and wood products.”

Among PapiNet’s “standards implementation groups” is one for recovered fiber that includes representatives from eight prominent North American recycling, paper making or printing companies: Abitibi Consolidated, Bowater, Kruger Inc., MeadWestvaco, RecycleAmerica Alliance, RR Donnelley, SP Newsprint and Weyerhaeuser.

PSI members also held governance meetings at the fall gathering and heard a keynote address from Liane Hansen of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday.