Use paper towels for dying your hands - Cascades report

Cascades reinforces the advantages of using paper towels for drying hands - 'hand paper towels are the most hygienic choice for drying your hands'. They show a study comparing the drying efficiency and bacterial contamination of conventional warm air dryers, new high-performance air jet dryers and hand paper towels.

Cascades opens new green building in Lachute

Cascades of Canada, a leader in green packaging and fibre recovery, announced it had opened its first LEED ('Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design') certified building as part of the expansion of its tissue paper facility in Lachute, Quebec.

Van Houtum Papier target battle against influenza with C2C paper

van Houtum Papier (VHP) was the first paper company to produce Cradle to Cradle paper towel and toilet paper. In the current period of uncertainty regarding influenza in its many forms, especially swine flu, the paper towel offers one of the best options for drying hands. The VHP C2C paper towel is disposable and why not use a sustainable paper grade to wipe your hands, especially when it has been certified as C2C. C2C certification ensures that the best measures are taken to make the paper either recyclable or biodegradable

Demand for print & graphic paper to decline sharply by 2010 - New market report

In  printweek.com article, it has been reported that a Stationers' and Newsprint Makers' Company Report, entitled, 'Future of Paper and Print in Europe 2008-2020', that there will be a dramatic drop in demand for print and graphic grades of paper in Europe.  Some highlights are:

• Total demand to drop by 32.5% by 2020
• Newsprint demand to decline by 56% between 2008 and 2020 
  
• Business papers and print to decline by 45.5%
• Magazine paper demand to decline by 32%
• Advertising and commercial print sector to decline by 14.5%

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that digital media and online publishing is the prime reason for the predicted decline in use of these papers.

For paper chemical producers this is a significant market for process chemicals and functional chemicals aimed at this market (eg OBAs, internal sizing, surface treatment).  To compound the agony, it is well know that imports of OBA (and other paper chemicals) from China and India into Europe have increased significantly in the last year or so.  The market report will also not make good reading for the suppliers of fillers and pigments (eg calcium carbonate, kaolin).

The market report was prepared by NLK Associates.

Can you measure your carbon footprint? Södra can.

Sodra Cell announced that it has a carbon footprint of just 100 kg of carbon dioxide per ton of pulp produced.  Following a series of investments, Sodra has managed to move from being a net energy user to an energy supplier.  In the next few years there will continue to be debate as to exactly how carbon footprint is measured and Sodra has used the framework for paper and board products devised by CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries).  Will this approach or method become a standard across the industry?

 

PPI publish list of top 100 paper companies

Pulp and Paper International has published its Top 100 list with IP, StoraEnso and P&G retaining their lead (based on their 2007 turnover).  There is also a ranking of the big pulp and paper producers.  International Paper (14.4 mio tonnes) hold onto the number one spot followed by StoraEnso, UPM Kymmene, AbitibiBowater, and Oji Paper.

The Chinese have moved up the rankings.  To quote the PPI article: 

Unsurprisingly, the major Chinese producers have again moved up the table. Shandong Chenming is now at 43, Nine Dragons has moved up to 54, Lee & Man has jumped to 61 and Shandong Huatai is at 85th place. Overall, Asian companies make up 16.3% of the net sales of pulp, paper and converting among the Top 100 firms in the industry. For the first time this year, there are more European companies on the list than North American, but the US and Canadian companies still account for the largest percentage of net sales at 37.4% compared to 36.0% for their European counterparts. In terms of production, the Million Tonners’ club has 55 members this year (compared to 57 companies last year), but they produced more tonnes of paper and board as a group.

Xerox and Curtis join forces to produce antimicrobial document paper

Xerox and Curtis Fine Papers have worked together to produce an anti-microbial paper with a target market of hospitals, private healthcare organisations and GP surgeries where the producers expect it to play a part in preventing the spread of hospital-acquired infections such E.coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Pseudomonas and Clostridium difficile.

The paper is said to kill 99.9% of bacteria and can be be printed without affecting its antibacterial capabilities.

This approach is not new, with Domtar announcing a similar approach, and work reported by Finnish and Canadian research groups. There are issues regarding the development of resistance to the microbicides, sensitivity of the users of the papers and the spectrum of activity of the microbicides. In addition, the long-term effectiveness of the microbicides is yet to be proven.

printweek.com has reported on the announcement by Curtis and Xerox..

P&G name new Chief Technology Officer

P&G names Bruce Brown to replace the retiring G Gilbert Cloyd as Chief Technology Officer, on the 1st June, 2008.

Brown is currently the VP of R&D, Global Hair Care and Global Hair Colorants will report to Robert A McDonald, COO, and will continue to be located in Cincinnati.

Higher whiteness multi-purpose papers in the USA drives growth in FWA market

Nalco's Chris Smith has written about the recent move by International Paper to increase the brightness of North American office paper (copier paper) and set a new industry standard for the USA. There is a disparity between the brightness (whiteness) of standard office papers supplied to the markets in Europe (and Asia) and those in the USA and Japan - the European and Asian markets demand significantly higher whiteness. Therefore, there was scope for International Paper to increase whiteness in the USA and to produce papers which could be competitively exported to Europe and Asia.

Producing paper at higher whiteness requires the use of more fluorescent whitening agent (FWA or OBA) and/or higher levels of bleaching, changes which can also impact on process efficiency. So, initially there were significant increases in costs, only some of which could be reduced by changes to raw materials and processes.

The effects of this move by International Paper have been:

• To set a new standard for whiteness in the USA for standard office papers (white, copier paper)
  
• To increase the consumption (market) of FWAs (OBAs) in the USA

The article gives a good account of the change to higher whiteness and case studies highlight the key issues.

Staples act to improve environmental behaviour of suppliers - APP axed

Tappi has reported that Staples, the largest office supplies company in the USA, has axed APP as one of its suppliers. The reason given was that APP is not making strides to improve its environmental record, especially its forest-clearing programme which has been a danger to the survival of animals, especially the tiger. This is a blow to APP who currently supply about 5% of Staples' products.

According to APP's web site:
'APP (pulp and paper products) is one of the world's leading pulp and paper companies. With current combined pulp, paper and packaging grades capacity of over 7 million tonnes in Indonesia, it ranks number one in Asia, excluding Japan.'

More info:
Blogger News Network

M-real pulls out of UK and sells New Thames mill to DS Smith

printweek.com has reported that M-real has withdrawn all production from the UK after agreeing to sell its New Thames office paper mill in Kemsley, Kent, to DS Smith for £60m.

At the end of 2008, the mill will stop producing paper for M-real and switch to producing, 'raw material for corrugated board'.

M-real had to make a decision as to whether to make a major investment in the older mill at New Thames or concentrate on newer mills elsewhere.

The New Thames mill paper machine currently has an annual capacity of 230,000 tonnes of office paper, employs 280 people and has sales of £119m (€160m).

Finnish forestry companies developing Biofuel production

Just an update blog that is of interest. A summary is:

• Neste Oil and Stora Enso are planning to co-operate in the development of Biofuel.
• UPM Kymmene is to look for its own technical and business solutions and continuing its R&D activity (increased R&D spend from 50 to 80 million euro).

Stora Enso and UPM post profit warnings ahead of 3Q results

• Stora Enso face continuing high costs for wood and recycled fibre, along with with the weakening US dollar.

• UPM has cited rises in wood costs and the strengthened euro
  

Stora Enso's 3Q07 results are due on the 25th October and UPM's on the 30th.

Stora Enso divests its North American paper operations to NewPage

Stora Enso has signed an agreement to sell Stora Enso North America (SENA), its North American subsidiary, to NewPage Holding Corporation, a leading North American coated paper producer. The combined company will be called NewPage.

The transaction value is approximately USD 2 520 million (EUR 1 816 million) and consists of USD 1 500 million (EUR 1 080 million) in cash, USD 200 million (EUR 144 million) in vendor notes and 19.9% of the shares in the new company valued at approximately USD 370 million (EUR 267 million). NewPage will also assume net liabilities of about USD 450 million (EUR 324 million). The transaction is expected to be finalised during the first quarter of 2008, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The divestment is not expected to have any material impact on the annual operating profit of the Stora Enso Group as the North American businesses being divested are currently about breakeven at the operating profit level. The divestment will simplify Stora Enso's Group structure and strengthen their focus on Europe and their growth markets.

The combined annual sales in 2006 of NewPage and SENA were approximately USD 4 300 million (EUR 3 099 million) and their combined EBITDA USD 525 million (EUR 378 million). The new company will consist of 12 paper mills with estimated production capacity of 4 754 000 tonnes. NewPage's headquarters is in Miamisburg, Ohio. Stora Enso will maintain and interest (19.9%).

As part of the transaction, Stora Enso will divest eight publication, fine paper and speciality paper mills which will reduce the Group's annual production capacity by 2 745 000 tonnes and the number of personnel by about 4 350. The divested mills include Biron, Duluth, Kimberly, Niagara, Port Hawkesbury, Stevens Point, Whiting and the Wisconsin Rapids mills.

Stora Enso will retain Corenso's North American operations. Corenso produces cores and coreboard for industrial use in various fields of business.

Further details can be found at:

www.storaenso.com

www.storaenso.com/investors

About NewPage Corporation

NewPage Corporation, with headquarters Miamisburg, Ohio, is a leading US producer of coated papers in North America. The company produces coated papers in sheets and rolls with many finishes and weights. With more than 4 300 employees, NewPage operates integrated pulp and paper manufacturing mills Escanaba, Michigan; Luke, Maryland; Rumford, Maine; and Wickliffe, Kentucky; and a converting and distribution centre in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Reorganisation at Stora Enso - business areas to improve accounbtability, response, cost reduction etc. Is this credible?

Stora Enso made the following announcement today:

Stora Enso is reorganising its operations from the current four divisions into eight separate business areas: Fine Paper, Merchants, Consumer Board, Industrial Packaging, Magazine Paper, Newsprint, North America and Wood Products. An impairment charge totalling about EUR 1 300 million will be accounted for as a non-recurring item without cash impact in the third quarter of 2007.

"The main objectives of the reorganisation are to give business area leaders and their teams clear responsibility for improving financial performance, remove layers of management and to speed up decision-making. These changes will also improve our external transparency through enhanced reporting. The new structure will further focus the portfolio analysis work and facilitate scalability for the future, strengthening Stora Enso's position with regard to potential industry consolidation," says Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen.

"Through these organisational changes, we also seek to improve the performance of our North American operations by reorganising them into a separate entity with full profit and loss responsibility reporting directly to me. Key criteria for defining the new business structure were identifying entities with strong synergies within the business and to a large extent their own customer base, while keeping customer interfaces simple and sharing relevant Group-level synergies."

The new organisational structure is effective immediately. Financial reporting in the third quarter results to be published on 25 October 2007 will be based on the new eight business areas. Historical figures based on the new business areas will be reported separately by 15 October 2007.

Further details of replay numbers can be found at www.storaenso.com/investors. If you would like an alternative view of this, refer to the Forbes report where the view of the analysts is that this will lead to a break-up of the business as it attempts to unload unprofitable operations.

The new organisation and its leadership are as follows:

Reporting Unit	Executive Responsible	Responsibility
Fine Paper Business Area	Aulis Ansaharju	Fine Paper, Country Manager Finland
Consumer Board Business Area, Merchants Business Area	Mats Nordlander	Consumer Board, Merchants, Market Services
Industrial Packaging Business Area	Veli-Jussi Potka	Industrial Packaging
Magazine Paper Business Area	Hannu Alalauri	Magazine Paper
Newsprint Business Area	Juha Vanhainen	Newsprint
North America Business Area	John Gillen*	North American businesses
Wood Products Business Area	Elisabet Salander Björklund	Wood Products, Wood Supply and Pulp Supply
Group Function Leaders
	Hannu Ryöppönen, Deputy CEO and CFO	Finance and Strategy, Purchasing
	Bernd Rettig	Technology and R&D, Operations Improvement, Logistics and Investments, Country Manager Germany
	Christer Ågren	HR Services, Leadership Development, IT, Country Manager Sweden

Domtar introduce an anti-microbial office paper

Paper 360 have reported on an interesting announcement from Domtar that they have produced the first antimicrobial office paper available in North America. It is designed to protect paper against the growth of bacteria, odours, fungus, mould and mildew. The key ingredient is a silver compound which kills most bacteria that come into contact with it. It is stated that, 'Although conceived for general office use, the paper's unique characteristics make it ideal for the healthcare, laboratory, hospitality, education and governmental sectors.'

A hot topic at the moment is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or 'Super Bug' as it is otherwise known, and it is reported that independent laboratory tests on Domtar Antimicrobial Office Paper demonstrate a 99% reduction of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and K. pneumoniae.

Given the significant increase in virulent bacteria such as MRSA over the past ten years, antimicrobial products are now sought throughout North America and, indeed, the world. Similar products exist in Europe and Asia and Domtar is the first company to bring an antimicrobial office paper to North America.

Domtar Antimicrobial Office Paper is manufactured under a licensing agreement with SilverCo, a developer of antimicrobial-patented technology. The antimicrobial compound has been registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Visit the Domtar web site for more information (www.domtar.com)