The event, held in London, heard from speakers including Dr Martin Kay of consultant Smithers Pira and Annabel Mak, procurement manager at tissue manufacturer Kimberly-Clark.
The changes in the marketplace have implications for both local authorities and the private sector with councils likely to lose tonnage and income from falling newspaper readership while the collectors of office grade material could see alternatives, such as bamboo, being used to make paper.
Dr Kay told the audience that there had been a lot of shutdowns of newsprint mills in the United States. Almost every newsprint producer is in Chapter 11 or closed down altogether. The containerboard industry is in consolidation and the graphics sector is also in a bit of stress. People are not reading newspapers and magazines like they used to. But, the tissue industry is holding up fairly well.
And, he suggested that some papermakers might switch from making newsprint, for example, to making tissue and packaging grades as these are growth markets but will add competition to existing suppliers. Dr Kay noted: Paper companies are looking to switch and one concern for the tissue sector is that there is new capacity coming on line.
Newspapers
Detailing the sharp fall in the demand for graphic papers for newspapers and magazines, he pointed to a fall in consumption of newspapers per head at 45 kg in 2000 in the United States down to below 15 kg per head last year. This figure is just below the consumption rate in Europe although Europe was reading far less newspapers in 2000. And, he pointed to a newspaper extinction timeline (www.futureexploration.net) which claimed that newspapers will be all but extinct in the USA in 2017 and by 2019 in the UK and Iceland.
In terms of European paper mills, Dr Kay said there had been six closures of mills or machines in 2012 but on the plus side there had been 13 new projects with the largest being the new SAICA mill in Manchester.
Emphasising the importance of export markets, Dr Kay said that the UKs situation in terms of imbalance of collection of paper for recycling was perhaps the most adverse in Europe with the UK representing 38% of all Europes exports of recovered paper.
Cartonboard
The paper industry expert said he did not foresee the installation of new paper machines in the UK to offset the need for exports apart from the possibility of construction of a new recycled cartonboard machine being built to offset 750,000 tonnes of imports.
In summary, it made economic sense to build such a machine because of the high amount of cartonboard imported cartonboard is generally a lightweight packaging board such as used to package foods and for retail ready packaging. Looking at the figures, Dr Kay said the UK was 68% self-sufficient in newsprint and tissue product making, but only 37% in cartonboard.
Kimberly-Clark
Annabel Mak, procurement manager for Kimberly-Clark and based in Germany warned delegates that from her companys view the number of recycled fibre suppliers is declining and will continue to do so, there is no easy fix.
She highlighted falling volumes of office grade material being available because of more paperless offices and Kimberly- Clark was looking at virgin fibre options She said that the company, which makes products such as Kleenex tissues, is already being challenged by Asian demand. Sorted office waste is going to get a lot less and woodfree grades to produce that tissue are declining.
Ms Mak commented on the situation regarding woodfree recycled fibre globally. We are noticing in woodfree that we are seeing quality declining. There is a higher mechanical fibre content, also higher ash levels, a higher plastic content and also higher levels of stickies and contamination.
Woodfree pulp, produced by chemical pulping, isused to makepaper or board for printing and writing which has little or no mechanical woodpulp so contains no fibres other than those derived from the chemical wood pulping processes. Therefore, it is free from wood-based impurities, such as lignin, which are present in mechanical pulp. Mechanical pulping is used for products such as newsprint and some printing grades. It can also be mixed with chemical pulps to produce a mixture of properties. Mechanical pulp has low strength compared to chemical pulps. Mechanical pulp provides good printability but changes colour on exposure to light as can be seen in old newspapers. Mechanical pulps are mostly produced using softwood species as these suffer less damage in the harsh mechanical process. However some hardwood species can be used in a semi-chemical process which is a mixture of the chemical pulping and mechanical pulping process. (Source: Paper Industry Technical Association)
And she warned: This is drawing us to look at the recycled fibre versus virgin fibre differential as costs increase. We will be focusing on those suppliers who can deliver the quality we are seeking. We are now moving away from higher ash grades.
Transition
In June 2012 Kimberly-Clark announced that it has set a sustainability goal to transition 50% of wood fibre from natural forests to alternate sources.
Ms Mak highlighted three alternative fibres: wheat, kenaf and bamboo. Looking beyond 2014 she said that for wheat she would expect larger farm conglomerates or buying groups to be created to sell wheat straw and that longer term contracts would be created. For kenaf there would be contracts with growers to plant, harvest and process material with additional volumes needed. In terms of bamboo, current supplies are being met by China but Ms Mak asked whether other countries could start growing the crop, such as Portugal.
In conclusion, she emphasised five key points:
- Tissue producers recognise future recycled fibre supply challenges
- Alternative fibre options are being developed
- Tissue producers will build capabilities to consume a wider range of fibres
- Recycled fibre suppliers will need to become more competitive
- Tissue producers will drive all suppliers to be innovative and cost-effective
2013 Conference
Next year’s Paper Recycling Conference Europe, organised by Recycling Today of the US,will be held from30-31 October 2013 in Warsaw, Poland.
Details from: Natalie Findlay at www.smitherspira.comtel: 01372 802000.
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