By: Jim Rosenberg Canadian newsprint maker Papiers Stadacona, formerly the Daishowa mill and now a company owned by Enron Corp., invested $18.5 million (Canadian) to expand its capacity to produce de-inked pulp.
Stadacona President Andr? C. Sarasin said his company's single mill, the fourth-largest in North America, at 550,000 metric tons per year, will increase de-inked pulp production from 500 to 650 tons per day. Now producing newsprint that ordinarily contains approximately 40% recycled fiber (and able to go as high as 80% if needed), "this expansion will allow us to go to 50% across the board," said Sarasin, adding that all the recycled fiber comes from post-consumer waste.
The principal part of the expansion project is its drum pulper -- a massive piece of equipment (15 x 95 feet, almost 115 short tons of stainless steel) purchased last November, built over most of a year in Finland, installed two days ago, and expected to be in operation next March, according to Sarasin.
"Our customers are demanding a percentage of recycled [fiber] in the product we supply them," Sarasin said, citing a 50% recycled-content requirement for those in Maryland. Stadacona exports worldwide but does most of its business in the Northeastern United States. Bales of old newspapers, half recovered in the United States and half in Canada, replace the rolls of newsprint in company trucks headed back north to the Quebec City mill.
Sarasin said there is no difference in price between virgin and recycled newsprint. Pointing to the effect that recent restrictions on U.S. imports of Canadian lumber have had on production of virgin-fiber newsprint in Canada, he noted that the supply of sawmills' waste wood chips -- the principal raw material for newsprint -- had diminished as a result of reduced wood production for U.S. markets.
Unlike its bankrupt sole owner, "we are profitable and doing fine," said Sarasin, who last month announced that Enron sought a buyer for Stadacona.
Previous coverage:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1570827http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1212549
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here