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 set new standard - first in the world with 'Cradle to Cradle' paper

Van Houtum Papier, an independent paper company based in The Netherlands has announced that it is the first to produce paper according to the 'Cradle to Cradle' or C2C standards operated by MBDC - in Europe, the certification is overseen by EPEA.

The 'Cradle to Cradle' product and process design philosophy was the brain child of William McDonough and Michael Braungart who founded MBDC in 1995 to promote their eco-effective design concept. There are some overviews on YouTube: The man himself and a review of a conference in Maastricht (in Dutch).

MBDC/EPEA are commercial organisations (charge a significant fee for C2C certification) and not regulated (accountable, independent), so some critics argue that certification of this kind lacks credibility when it is self-regulating. However, there is no question that their approach to design is holistic and goes beyond the 'cradle to grave' concept which has been promoted for decades. In the words of MBDC, C2C describes an approach in which, "products and services are designed based on patterns found in nature, eliminating the concept of waste entirely ........ optimising materials to be food either for natures ecosystems or for humans industrial systems - perpetually circulating in closed systems that create value and are inherently healthy and safe".

For the paper chemical producers this philosophy offers opportunities to design products which are biodegradable, based on sustainable raw materials and which are inherently safe. The Van Houtum Papier initiative is one to watch, but in the words of Henk van Houtm, "We will first look at the market response"......... will C2C certified paper carve out a valuable niche in the market?

A book has been written by McDonough and Braungart giving details of their admirable philosophy and there are a number of reviews available in the blogosphere (eg blogcritics). There are also some excellent blogs giving some insight into MBDC (eg greencitizenship).

Bioplastics continue their growth - opportunity for the future

Bioplastics have been around for a while now, but recently there has been significant developments and more small to medium sized enterprises moving into the market.  The opportunity is to use sustainable, biodegradable raw materials to make products which compete effectively with the hydrocarbon based synthetic plastics.  There have often been performance and cost issues but the volatility of the oil price, the 'green agenda' and the injection of money into biopolymer research, has driven the development of what can be described as 'eco-effective' alternatives to traditional plastics.

A recent study from Ceresana Research shows that bioplastics are flourishing.  During the last eight years, it is reported that consumption of biodegradable plastics based on starch, sugar and cellulose, has grown by 600%, albeit from a small base.  Starch-derived plastics dominate in Europe and polylactic acid is considered to offer significant promise.

This is an opportunity for companies back integrated into natural raw materials (eg suppliers of starch to the paper industry), but it is an opportunity for all synthetic chemical companies to look across their entire range and consider where natural raw materials could subsitute those derived from oil.

How does transport affect your carbon footprint? CEPI Initiative.

Printweek.com has reported on the initiative by CEPI to look at te effect of transport on carbon footprint.  At a meeting on the 25th March the aims are to identify the specifics of transport for the European pulp and paper industry, and exchange experiences on how to tackle the environmental impact.

White clouds gather over London - Specialist OBA conference to address key issues

This week sees a gathering of some European paper optical brightening agent specialists in London to discuss the current state of affairs.   In the midst of a continuing, very tough market environment and under threat from a number of key environmental issues, particularly the unsustainability of making paper whiter, whiter and whiter, dark clouds are gathering over this sector of the paper chemicals industry.  

It will therefore be inetresting to see if strategies can be developed for improving the sustainability and the environmental impact of using high levels of OBA to produce white papers. It is disappointing not to see any papers which specifically address the environmental impact, but perhaps the titles given by the speakers do not divulge everything which will be presented. It also would have strengthened the programme to have had contributions from the paper and board producers (users of OBAs).

The detailed programme for the conference, Optical Brighteners & Paper Whiteness, is available from the organiser Makowhiteness Project, and the following is a list of contributions:

OBA Market Conditions

Alec Tindal, Makowhiteness Ltd, UK (Consultant)

Factors Affecting OBA Performance

Martinez & Schoenenberger, IGCAR, Spain (Producer)

Lightfastness of OBAs

Olli Jokinen, Ciba SC, Finland (Producer)

Reaching the Highest Whites

David Puddiphatt, Clariant, Switzerland (Producer)

Paper Whiteness v’s Reproduction of Colour

Ole Norberg, Voxvil AB, Sweden (Whiteness Measurement)

White Paper Tinting (Shading Colours Technical)

Michael Kraemer, Kemira, Germany (Producer)

Optical Characterization of Paper as Basis for Printing & as Aesthetic Media

Claudio Puebla, Axiphos, Germany (Whiteness Measurement)

Shade Comparison in High White Papers

Alec Tindal, Makowhiteness Ltd, UK (Consultant)

Clariant, Kemira and Ciba (now BASF) are the leading producers of OBAs in Europe.

A load of hogwarts ......... green marketing spin.

Enjoyed a recent blog by Steven Kiernan in printweek.com, 'The spin cycle of greenwash'.  He makes some good points about some of the 'unjoined up thinking' in some of the green marketing we see nowadays.  Worth a read.

PS Reminds us of one of our earlier blogs on the the Emirates airlines being righteous about removing their in-flight magazine to save the environment - the fact that they were removing paper from a new Airbus A380 super jumbo jet weighing 650 tons at take-off and a guzzler of tons of fuel seemed to get forgotten in their green marketing moment!

Chelating agents - Biodegradable alternatives to EDTA and DTPA

EDTA and DTPA are widely used in the pulp and paper industry for chelating metal ions, especially in the bleaching of chemical or recycled fibres with peroxide where many metal ions increase the decomposition of peroxide.

Initially in Germany and later in a number of other countries, the poor biodegradability (persistence) of EDTA and DTPA in the environment raised questions about the efficacy of using these chemicals.  Not surprisingly, there has been considerable research into finding alternatives, especially by the peroxide producers and suppliers.

Recently Kemira R&D has developed some alternative chemistries which are starting to show promise.  As is often the case with greener alternatives, there is a price to pay as the cost/perfomance of the new products is inferior.  Nevertheless, there is now a good environmentally-friendly option.  The products marketed by Kemira under the Fennobio trademark are based on aspartic acid diethoxysuccinate (AES).

There is a more detailed article by Kemira on this topic.

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?

 

Paper whiteness - Clariant's OBA crisis!

Clariant has tried to make a case for the current situation in the global OBA (optical brighteneing agent) business (see the recent RISI article) referring to it as an 'OBA Crisis'. It is well worth reading the views expressed in the article but we would leave it to you to make a judgement on the position taken.

First, Clariant has struggled in this market, and made a strategic mistake of relying entirely on the Chinese (or any other supplier were they to be available) for their raw materials.  They were then unable to raise prices to cover their escalating raw material costs.  The Chinese are now uniquely positioned to move upstream and market OBAs, more cost-effectively,  to the world.  The move by the Chinese government to abolish the VAT refund on Chemical exports and the squeeze on production from the 'Beijing Olympic Effect' has only hightened the weakness in the strategy - if you do not control your raw materials do not expect to control the market (see earlier blog).

Second, is there really a need to use so much OBA in papermaking?  As the industry strives to find sustainable solutions, is the move by North America (and perhaps Japan) to match the rediculously high whiteness levels found in Europe really necessary?  It is also questionable whether OBAs are, 'The most cost-effective means of raising the whiteness of paper,'  especially when one takes a cradle to cradle assessment.

Furthermore, just how white do we need our paper to be and just how many thousands of tons of OBA do we need to pour into our environment to get a few points more in whiteness?  In time, when 'cradle to cradle' approaches to product development (chemicals and paper) are more widely adopted, the whiteness folly will be exposed for what it is.  In 2006 Clariant boasted in an advert that it had sold over 1 million tonnes of OBA for papermaking - is this a sutainable soultion?

Keywords - OBA, FWA, Clariant, Environment, Sustainability, C2C, whiteness, papermaking, paper, pulp, chemicals.

Carbon Footprint Labels ....... are paper chemical producers participating?

There has been a number of initiatives to put labels on products which indicate their environmental impact. The Nordic Swan, Euro flower, the Carbon Trust's Carbon Reduction Label, etc all indicate that a product has met certain environmental requirements or commitments. The labels become recognised by consumers and are helpful in 'green' marketing initiatives.

There is now an increasing demand from consumers to have a label which more closely relates to the product's carbon footprint - the amount of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases (eg methane and nitrous oxide) emitted as part of a product's manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.

For companies marketing directly to consumers it is not a question of if they will use carbon footprint labels but when. Consumers will be making more informed choices when purchasing goods and the carbon footprint label will be there to help them.

Tissue and towel producers followed by other paper product producers will start to use these labels. Where does this leave the paper chemical supplier? There certainly does not appear to be much visible activity at the moment with most of those paper chemical companies I contacted implying that they will wait to see what happens. However, this is a great opportunity to promote 'green' products and to commit to reducing carbon footprints. In time, the papermakers will require chemical suppliers to know and provide figures for the carbon footprints of their products.

If you are interested in the initiative in the UK, it is worth looking at the web site for the Carbon Trust.

Carbon footprint
global warming
climate change

Emirates' paperless plane - what next in the 'green' PR jungle

In the Sunday Times (20.07.2008) there is an article with the incredulous title of 'Emirates Flies the Paperless Plane'. Here is a mega tonne plane (the new Airbus A380 superjumbo) with its enormous cargo of people (500), baggage and payload and they choose to send out a message that the '2 kg per seat saving' by stopping the use of 'in-flight magazines, entertainment guides and shopping catalogues ('paperless plane') will help to save 'fuel and the environment'.

Help me, help me, help me ............

This is a mega tonne plane of which the paper load is miniscule! How about a few other suggestions:

1. Reduce the number of flights
2. Reduce the number of passengers! One passenger would save more than a magazine?
3. Require that all passengers are below a certain weight! No, that would be discriminatory.
4. Ask the flight attendants to wear just one pair of shoes and carry less luggage?
5. Ask all passengers to reduce the weight of luggage they bring with them?
6. Hey, why not take all the duty-free goods off the plane!
7. Reduce the number of crew and flight attendants?
   
8. Ask all the passengers not to eat or drink before flying ......... similar saving to 2 kg per person?
9. Only fly these big things when they are full - now there is a thought.
10. 2 kg of paper per person suggests that there is some room for looking at alternative papers and reducing the waffle that there is in typical in-flight magazines etc
    

This is the media for you. A quick story ......... jumping on whatever is trendy ............ overemphasising the single issues rather than considering the bigger picture.

Yes, get rid of paper and packaging and satisfy someone (a few) but please, please, please, think of the whole picture. A quick PR gain will not bring value to your company in the end. Are the Emirates as a company and a nation so squeaky clean that they can make a big issue of saving 2 kg per person? I think not.

One does not have to be a genius to understand that:

• 500 X 2 kg = 1,000 kg (one tonne)
  
• The maximum take off weight (MTOW) of a superjumbo (yes, this is the figure, Sunday Times and Emirates seemed to forget to mention) is over 650 tonnes! A hefty cocktail of composites, metals, glass etc
  
• Do the maths! 1/650 is what the paper will contribute

How about banning alcohol on all Emirates flights?

Pizza boxes in the news - DIBP concerns

Pizza boxes are in the news again, this time because of concerns that those manufactured with recycled paper may contain di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP). In the Telegraph.co.uk article, it is stated that, 'According to the Food Standards Agency [DIBP] may have a harmful affect on human reproductive development because they have been reported to be endocrine (hormone) disrupters.'

That there is some DIBP in certain types of paper is not questioned, after all, scientists in the home of the pizza (University of Milan) found traces of DIBP in boxes from 16 different restaurants in northern Italy. One box contained more than 70 micrograms, and several had more than 40 micrograms.

DIBP can originate from the inks (certain printing processes), glues and colourants found in certain grades of recycled paper and board.

So what is the exposure and risk to human health? Probably very little. There is an ongoing debate as to whether packaging used in contact with food should be made for virgin rather than recycled paper as the latter often contains chemicals which have not been tested and approved for food contact use. Countries rich in wood fibre (eg Finland) usually argue the case for using virgin fibre, whereas those with larger populations and an abundance of recycled fibre have an interest in using recycled fibre (eg France) in packaging paper and board.

The pizza box has also been in the news for containing PFOS and PFOA, the harmful by-products found in many fluorochemicals used to give grease resistance. Pizza box manufacturers have made big strides to stop the use of these fluorochemicals but suppliers are still offering the products to the industry for food-contact use.

False start for REACH as ECHA admit to computer problems

In a number of news reports (eg RSC), the problems experienced at The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), have been highlighted. ECHA is responsible for running the European Union's new REACH scheme to regulate the use of chemicals, and it is clear that the agency is still struggling to put its IT system into full operation, more than two weeks after the start of the project's pre-registration period (1 June, 2008).

In May, Helsinki-based ECHA warned that it was having problems resolving teething problems with the system for bulk pre-registration of substances but it gave assurances that its IT facility would be working properly within a fortnight of the start of pre-registration.

The best advice is not to be first and to wait until things settle down before submitting your data - the ECHA organisation is new, REACH is new, so teething problems are to be expected.

Fluorochemicals used in paper and packaging - is the new C6 chemistry an advance on the problematic C8?

To the many of you who read the earlier blog on fluorochemicals and their use in paper, and any others with an interest in this topic, it may be worth reading the recent article by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

EWG, 'Finds no evidence that the industry-touted replacement chemicals being rushed to market are safer -- and plenty of evidence that DuPont and other manufacturers are continuing a decades-long pattern of deception about the health risks of PFOA and related chemicals.'

EWG make the point that the move from C8 to C6 chemistry is,

'Greenwashing – claiming environmental benefits for a product that's little better than its replacement – at its worst. PFOA is so remarkably persistent in the environment and broadly toxic to living organisms that using it as a bar against which to judge "green chemistry" is like calling anything under 200 miles per hour a safe speed limit. For C6 replacements, the full extent of the public record on their safety consists of a PowerPoint presentation delivered by Asahi Glass Company to the Environmental Protection Agency. Public records show that DuPont, Asahi, and Clariant are all shifting from PFOA to C6 chemistries despite an absolute dearth of public safety data, and despite the fact that on 3 critical counts, C6 may be as great a concern as PFOA:

• C6, like all the other PFCs, is extraordinarily persistent in the environment (NAS 1972).
• C6 is potentially 3 to 5 times more toxic than C8 to aquatic organisms (Asahi 2006).
• C6 crosses the placenta to contaminate children before birth, according to an EWG study of umbilical cord blood from 10 newborn babies (EWG 2005). While many studies of thousands of people by CDC, industry, and academic university researchers show that PFOA contaminates nearly the entire U.S. population, industry has failed to publish even a single study of C6 in people. EWG's tests of cord blood show it to be potentially as great a concern as PFOA.

EWG certainly make some good points in amongst the sometimes emotive and hyperbolic writing. The fact remains, does it make sense to continue with fluorine chemistry? Surely this is an opportunity to develop and market fluorine-free alternatives.

The main companies involved in the manufacture and supply (directly or indirectly) of fluorine-based chemicals to the paper industry are: Arkema, Asahi, Ciba, Clariant, Daikin, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon and Solvay Solexis. There are others.

Fluorine-based chemicals are mainly used in paper and packaging to give grease-resistance (eg pizza boxes, burger wrap, butter wrap, soap wrap, pet-food bags). Alternative barriers are available for some of the current applications, but in some of the more demanding applications it has been difficult to find chemicals which perform as well as those containing fluorine with its unique physical properties. Finding fluorine-free alternatives is an opportunity.

Topchim introduces new biopolymer as a wax substitute for packaging

Topchim (Antwerp, Belgium) has announced the introduction of an environmental friendly, patented, nano-dispersed biopolymer as a substitute for wax emulsions in producing super hydrophobic paper and cardboard packaging.

As Topchim state, 'The packaging industry is seeking easy recyclable and environmental friendly packaging solutions made of renewable resources. TopChim ........ has developed an innovative biopolymer as a competitive, ecological substitute for wax emulsions used in the coating production of hydrophobic paper and board packaging. This 2-year research program has resulted in a new coating technology for paper and cardboard that counters the disadvantages of using wax emulsions while maintaining the excellent water barrier performances.'

What is it? The new biopolymer is of vegetable origin, while most used wax emulsions are produced from petrochemicals; it is biopolymer with a monodisperse size-distribution of nano-particles with a regular shape; and, it is reported to show other important advantages for the surface treatment of paper and cardboard compared to the use of wax emulsions:

• requires no stabilizers even with a high solid content
• viscosity remains low (65% solids at +/- 300 cps with Brookfield 23°C 100 rpm spindle 5)
  
• coating machines can simply be rinsed with water
  
• has a higher temperature resistance and is less sticky, which improves the handling of the treated paper and cardboard in production.

Marketed as TopScreen DS13, it is approved for a wide variety of paper and board coating applications, both in-line and off-machine.

TopScreen DS13 will be introduced during the second half of 2008 in Europe and South America. TopChim has a total production capacity of 10,000 tons at 2 plants in Europe with plans to invest in additional production capacity in South America.

The announcement highlights the opportunity to replace wax but does not mention opportunities to replace fluorochemicals where paper and packaging companies continue to look for fluorine-free alternatives. See one of the earlier blogs, or look at all our related blogs by clicking on the drop-down menu on the right hand side --> 'blog topics', 'p fluorochemicals'.

PFOS, PFOA, bioaccumulation, Canda International

Kick the Habit - UN World Environment Day is Today! 5th June, 2008.

One of the main ways the United Nations tries to stimulate awareness of the environment is through its World Environment Day, which is held on the 5th June every year.


Thinking back over the last year - what have you implemented to meet the demands of today's market?


Looking forward, what will you do in 2008/2009? There is some activity by paper chemicals companies, but from the research of Canda International there is much to be done by companies to take a lead in meeting modern market demands. From product development, through the entire supply chain to the disposal or recycling of materials.

Do you?

• Understand the carbon footprint of your operations and processes
• Know what you can do to reduce emissions across the entire enterprise
• Have an approach to meeting the needs of your market

REACH Registration begins .....................

Whatever your view of REACH:

• More Brussels bureaucracy
  
• Trade barrier
• The 'Green Agenda'
• A way to employ more people - especially consultants, governments, laboratories etc
  
• Public protection from nasty chemicals
• A tax on the chemical companies
• Restoring public confidence in chemicals
• etc, etc, etc
  

REACH is here to stay and the pre-registration 'marathon' starts today and lasts until 2018.

Further detailed information and a perspective is given by Chemie.DE News-Centre - the comments by Cefic are interesting.

For further details and assistance with REACH please contact Canda International.

REACH - EU decide on charges for registration

The EU has given details of the fees and charges payable to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for the registration of chemical substances (REACH) - the details are available in the wordy tome, the Official Journal of the European Union (Commission Regulation (EC) No 340/2008 of 16 April 2008).

The fees range from €1 600 for substances produced or imported in volumes below 10 tonnes, to €31 000 for those above 1 000 tonnes.

Help is offered to smaller businesses, with discounts of up to 90% for what is classed as a micro-enterprise; 60% for small-sized companies; and 30% for medium-sized firms (the definitions micro, small and medium are given in the EC regulation).

There is also a 25% reduction for companies which jointly regsiter.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) requires that all substances manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities above one tonne per year be registered as from 1 June 2008.

For help with any aspect of REACH, especially for paper chemicals contact Canda International Ltd - importers into the EU or EU producers.

California first to introduce a bill to ban the introduction of PFCs into food packaging - Why are they alone?

At last there has been a move somewhere in the world to challenge the lengthy, voluntary withdrawal of the use of fluorochemicals containing PFCs from use in applications such as food packaging. This topic has been covered before in this weblog and the question asked as to why there should be a voluntary agreement with the EPA to withdraw these products when there is clear evidence that they are harmful.

See the weblog on the EPA announcement that the big manufacturers are on track, or that on the recent DuPont study to produce evidence as to the fate of fluorochemicals in the environment.

The question remains, why wait until 2015? In many papermaking applications there are alternatives, but if there are not, then increased pressure will generate innovation.

Enviroblog covers this topic well and highlights the recent bill filed by California State Senator Ellen M. Corbett which would make California the first state to ban some PFCs in food packaging. The bill, sponsored by EWG, would prohibit more than trace amounts of two PFCs called PFOS and PFOA in any material used to package food, beginning in 2010.

The big producers working with the EPA include Arkema, Asahi, Ciba, Clariant, Daikin, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon and Solvay Solexis.

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.'

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