Future of Evolve recycled paper thrown into doubt

And, at the same time the future of a pulp-like material made from office waste paper in Kent, which is used to make Evolve, is unclear.

The threat to the Evolve brand comes because Finnish paper giant M-real announced earlier this month that it is still trying to sell off its paper mill at Alizay in Normandy, France by September 2011 or it is likely to close the plant.

The long-established Evolve recycled paper brand, for office printers and photocopiers, is made at Alizay largely from a pulp-like material made in Kent by DS Smiths St Regis paper mill group.

Evolve as a brand has received strong support in recent years from the London Remade organisation and has been promoted as a closed-loop solution because a large amount of office waste from London and southern England is processed at the St Regis mill into the pulp-like material.

Invest

Originally M-real made the Evolve paper in Kent but in 2008 it sold the plant at Kemsley to DS Smith which opted to invest in the plant and turn the paper making machine into making a cardboard-related material instead.

But, the machine to make the pulp-like material for office papers from office waste remained open and a three year deal was signed by DS Smith with M-real to export the material in baled form to Alizay. And, recently this agreement was extended.

M-real has for some time been trying to sell its Alizay plant and has spoken in the past of price pressures and difficulties in the office grade sector.

The costs of producing recycling paper have been seen as being not always competitive with other producers of office paper selling at cut throat prices (there have been concerns about rain forests being cut down in Brazil to produce cheap office grade material).

Spiral

The downward spiral of M-reals office paper connections in the UK and France are a complete contrast to the new world of office paper recycling that was heralded some 15 years ago when New Zealand owned Fletcher Challenge bought the UK Paper business at Kemsley, which was to go on to produce Evolve.

There was huge encouragement for offices in southern England, and especially in London from London Remade, to send waste paper to the mill and buy Evolve to close the loop, and it even featured on the Blue Peter television programme.

The M-real group was to buy the plant from Fletcher Challenge which retrenched its papermaking operations.

Protest

On the closure of Alizay, which has seen union protests and concerns expressed in the French media, M-real said this month that it had made the decision because, despite making significant changes at the mill, it remained heavily loss-making. There had already been several unsuccessful efforts to sell the operation, it added.

Should M-real fail to find a credible buyer for the mill within the given time frame, Alizay paper mill is planned to be closed, a statement added.

The companys chief executive, Mikko Helander, said that the plan alongside moves to sell or close some of its German operations – was necessary to raise the companys profitability to the target level with a move to becoming a packaging board company.

And, today M-real confirmed to letsrecycle.com that: M-real has started a process to divest the Alizay mill. If the divestment does not materialise by the end of September 2011, we consider closing the mill. In both of these potential scenarios M-real would not continue Evolve production.

The fibre plant at Kemsley which produces the pulp accounts for an estimated 90% of the recovered paper collected in the London area an estimated 180,000 tonnes of material a year (see letsrecycle.com story).

Collections

It remains unclear as to the impact on office waste paper recycling a closure of Alizay could have. St Regis has said little about whether or not it will keep the office waste paper pulping machine operational.

Tim Price, national commercial manager for DS Smith Recycling, said: While we are unable to comment on the operations of another group, DS Smith Recycling will continue to supply pulped paper material to M-real until we are instructed otherwise.”