Clarification of Answer by
adiloren-ga
on
20 Aug 2004 22:03 PDT
Hello blancarro-ga, thank you for requesting clarification.
If you are seeking U.S. public companies that SPECIALIZE in the
manufacture of recycled pulp, you will find that there aren't any. At
least that is the conclusion that I have drawn after extensive
research of the publically traded companies through a multitude of
paid database and the web. However, there are many private companies
that specialize in this (Superior Recycled Fiber Industries for
example) and some foreign publically held companies.
That does not mean, of course, that no public U.S. companies have
major recycled pulp operations. As noted in my initial response, many
do. You originally requested the top 10 manufacturers of recycled pulp
and I have listed them.
The probem, and you concerns, I assume are mainly the lack of detailed
financial data on those operations. I understand your concerns
completely, as that data is not readily available, because of the fact
that these operations are not primary mechanisms of acheiving profits
for these major paper companies. In fact, many have instituted these
recycled pulp programs to meet environmental standards, not as a
source of increased revenue.
Another problem is that when these companies do profit from the
recycled pulp, it is usually after it has been processed into their
paper products or added to other non-recycled pulp. It is therefore
difficult to determine what revenues are directly attributable to the
recycled pulp itself.
Despite these concerns, there is some information out there on these
recycled pulp operations at some of the major companies that were
profiled originally.
Below I have compiled some of this information so that you may be able
to estimate what types of revenue may be generated or what type of
savings may be registered from their manufacture of recycled pulp. I
hope this helps.
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Boise Cascade Corporation
PR Newswire
October 16, 1995
<<When complete, the new 910-ton-per-day paper machine will be capable
of producing approximately 330,000 tons annually of uncoated free
sheet paper, including office, offset printing, forms, and envelope
papers. The Jackson facility will have both virgin and recycled pulp
capacity available to supply the new machine, which is expected to
begin production in April of 1997.>>
The Seattle Times
August 6, 1991
<<Boise is currently looking at various suppliers of recycled
newspapers, from brokers to municipalities.
"We don't anticipate a problem getting supply," says Lamb. "Over time,
there will be an increase in the amount of newsprint recovered and put
back into the recycling stream."
Boise's markets will be, primarily, in the Western U.S., the same
market its mill here already serves. Lamb says the proposed recycling
mill will prove to be economically feasible for the company.
"One of the key things to remember is that production of recycled pulp
replaces a portion of the pulp production at the mill using virgin
fibers," Lamb says. "Based on recent prices for both old newspapers
and wood chips, we've reached the conclusion that it makes sound
economic sense for us."
Beloit Corp. will design, build and install the recycling equipment
for Boise. The plant will use as much as 300 tons of old newspapers a
day to churn out 225 tons of recycled fibers daily.>>
*********************************
Bowater Inc.
Plant
March 3, 2003
<<Not to overlook the environmental significance of increasing recycled pulp
capacity, the flexibility it gives Bowater in acquiring raw materials for
paper production is the true justification for this investment. Bowater is
now less dependent on mechanical wood pulp--material made from wood chips
subject to fluctuating market prices--to make its annual capacity of
450,000 tons of newsprint. And the papermaker expects an internal rate of
return of about 32% in less than three years.
''We have three machines that require pulp to make paper,'' says Michael
Groves, engineering and environment manager at Bowater. ''As these
machines improved in efficiency, the availability of pulp decreased. We
had to improve our pulp production.''
Groves says the economics of this project wouldn't have been justified if
the need for more pulp weren't there. Recycled pulp is cheaper.
With the flexibility to use a higher percentage of recycled material,
Bowater can play the market. If the price of wood increases, or chips are
in short supply, it uses more recycled pulp to reduce the marginal costs
of the process. Preproject, the plant recycled pulp mix was half newspaper
and half magazine stock. Now it uses 80% newspaper.
Increased production
The company found an innovative way to increase the recycled capacity at an
existing mill that provided good payback terms of capital, says Groves.
''The goal was not to increase paper production, it was to provide more
flexibility as to the types of pulp we could use based on market
conditions, producing the paper at a lower cost.''>>
Waste News
August 23, 1999
<<Bowater, at one point, planned to spend about $220 million to
upgrade the East Millinocket mill. But those modernization plans --
announced in January 1998 -- never took place.
Now, Inexcon plans to spend $75 million to $100 million during the
next two years to upgrade the mills and produce paper under the Great
Northern Paper name.
Work will include rebuilding a paper machine, the addition of peroxide
bleaching of sulfite pulp, and a new roll wrap system at the
Millinocket mill. The company also will install new electric drives on
a paper machine and make improvements to the mechanical pulp mill in
East Millinocket.
''It will change our product mix into more specialty grades,'' company
spokesman Brian Stetson said. That will result in the need for more
recycled content in some products and less in others, he said. ''We
don't foresee the total use will change.''
Average recycled fiber consumption for the deinking mill is about 500
tons per day, with about 70 percent of that total being old newspapers
and the balance being old magazines, a recycled fiber buyer for the
site has said.
That yields about 330 to 340 tons of recycled pulp per day that is
either used at East Millinocket or shipped by rail or truck to the
Millinocket mill about 8 miles away, he said.>>
The Boston Globe
August 29, 1993
<<Elsewhere in the region, Bowater Inc.'s Great Northern Paper Inc.
unit opened a $ 60 million pulp facility in East Millinocket, Maine in
May. Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. plans to spend more than $ 50
million on a recycled pulp mill in Auburn, Maine. And Boston
businessman Robert K. Kraft's Rand-Whitney Group plans a $ 121 million
plant in Montville, Conn. to make recycled brown paper for corrugated
boxes.
"There seems to be a minor boom in the construction of these
facilities," says John Ruston, economic analyst at the Environmental
Defense Fund in New York. "There are new economic opportunities in
harvesting the urban forest."
Ruston notes that many of the new facilities are concentrated in the
Midwest and the Northeast. The densely populated regions generate an
abundant supply of waste paper and have substantial numbers of
paper-making plants that can use the recycled pulp.>>
********************************
International Paper Company
Business Week
November 1, 1993
<<Making high-quality office products of recycled material remains the
last great technical problem for papermakers, which for 20 years have
made cardboard, tissue, and newsprint that way (chart). The challenge
with office paper is to remove the ink from once-printed paper so the
recycled version will be lily-white. But that's nearly impossible. The
next best solution is to chemically separate ink from paper fibers
using a flotation process, then mix the grayish recycled pulp with
bleached pulp made from wood. Producers can buy recycled pulp, but
that leaves them dependent on outside suppliers. So those who can
afford to are investing in de-inking equipment. The drawback is cost.
Union Camp Corp. plans to spend $ 100 million over the next two years
at its Franklin (Va.) plant to turn 400 tons of office paper a day
into recycled pulp. International Paper Co., Hammermill's parent, has
bought exclusive North American rights to de-inking technology owned
by Germany's Steinbeis Temming Papier & Co. and has pumped $ 95
million into its Lock Haven (Pa.) mill to make 100% recycled copier
paper. The company also plans to spend $ 300 million by 1995 at its
plant in Selma, Ala., to de-ink and recycle 400 tons of paper a day.
"Companies with strong balance sheets are moving into this area," says
Evadna Lynn, a paper-industry analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
"Those with leveraged-up balance sheets" -- she mentions
Georgia-Pacific Corp. -- "don't want to spend right now."
The laggards risk losing out on major orders. Big paper buyers,
seeking to bolster their images with customers, are banding into
groups such as the Recycled Paper Coalition on the West Coast. Last
year, its eight members bought 18,500 tons of recycled paper with up
to 20% reused fibers. This year, the group has grown to 68 members,
including Bank of America, The Gap, and Bechtel Group. In August, the
Environmental Defense Fund forged an alliance that will harness the $
1 billion annual paper-purchasing power of six companies, including
McDonald's, NationsBank, and Time Warner, to demand more recycled
fibers in paper. This follows last year's decision by seven Great
Lakes state governments to form a cooperative to buy 14,000 tons of
recycled copier paper annually.>>
*********************************
Pope & Talbot Inc.
PR Newswire
May 2, 1994
<<The board of directors of Pope & Talbot Inc. (NYSE: POP), at its
regular meeting on Tuesday, April 26, 1994, approved a $20 million
program to modernize its recycled pulp mill in Eau Claire, Wis. The
Eau Claire mill is dedicated exclusively to the private label tissue
market. When complete in mid 1995, the new equipment will permit the
mill to use as much as 100 percent post-consumer wastepaper in the
production of tissue pulp that is equivalent in quality to pulp made
from virgin fibers. The investment will include modifications to one
of the mill's two tissue paper machines.
Pulp quality and product improvements are the goals for this project.
Private label tissue must be able to compete directly with brand-name
products on the shelves of company customers like Wal-Mart, K- Mart,
Albertson's, A&P and others. Upon completion of the project, Eau
Claire will produce a full line of tissue products that have softness,
brightness and absorbency characteristics equivalent to the brands.
Peter T. Pope, chairman, president & chief executive officer, stated
that, "Eau Claire has long been a leader in recycling technology, so
it is appropriate that the company commit to this state-of-the-art,
yet proven equipment." Pope continued, "This investment is very
important to our Partnership Program, where we work with retailers to
help them compete effectively with producers of brand-name products."
Pope concluded, "The equipment will allow Pope & Talbot to match
quality and features with the brands, and to keep up with product
improvements in the future.">>
***********************************
Weyerhaeuser Co.
Crain's Chicago Business
August 14, 1995
<<West Coast paper-making giant Weyerhaeuser Co. is opening a
recycling plant in Itasca this month, the latest of several moves
shaking up the Chicago-area market.
Weyerhaeuser Recycling will operate an $8-million, 66,000-square-foot
facility capable of processing up to 12,000 tons per month, according
to the plant's general manager, Lance Meyer. It will employ 40 to 50
people.
The plant began accepting baled paper in early August and will begin
accepting loose material in early October, when construction is
scheduled to be complete.
The facility is expected to draw paper from the area's 3,000-plus
printers and lithographers and from local office parks and major
retail chains.
"We expect to get material from these sources, as well as from local
trash haulers and paper brokers,'' Mr. Meyer said.
Although Oak Brook-based WMX Technologies Inc. has contracted with
Chicago to build and operate four material-recovery facilities-three
owned by the city and one company-owned-Weyer-haeuser doesn't view WMX
or other municipal waste haulers as competition, Mr. Meyer said.
"We're going to be competing with a lot of the local processors,''
specifically companies such as Huron Paper Stock Co. and DuPage Paper
Stock Inc., he said.
Part of the plant's output will supply one of Weyerhaeuser's mills-a
joint venture in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with Cedar River Paper Co.>>
