Greif CEO Peter Watson noted that closure plans for the company’s Mobile, Ala. facility date back to before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. | hxdyl/Shutterstock
Three paper companies recently closed facilities that use recycled material. Two framed the shutdowns as part of longer-term “optimization” plans, and the third said it is a direct response to the COVID-19 impact on demand.
Once stay-at-home orders and business closures took hold across the U.S., OCC generation declined very sharply. | AdamBoor/Shutterstock
The coronavirus pandemic has sharply diminished OCC collection from established commercial channels and some residential programs. An analyst describes how the virus hit the paper sector, and mill operators offer perspective on how they’re reacting.
Industry group American Forest & Paper Association announced that in the U.S. market 49 million short tons of fiber products were recycled in 2019.| franz12/Shutterstock
Export market turmoil caused a lower recycling rate for paper and paperboard in 2019, an industry group announced. The decline comes after a record year for paper recycling in 2018.
Recycled material shipments out of the U.S. have been on the decline for multiple years due to overseas regulatory changes. | MAGNIFIER/Shutterstock
U.S. exports of recycled paper and plastic were down during the first quarter of 2020 compared with previous years, according to new export data.
Officials estimate that 20 projects receiving grants will collectively divert nearly 44,000 tons of material from landfills each year. | ImagineStock/Shutterstock
North Carolina recently awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to help divert mixed recyclables, organics, paper, plastic and other materials from landfills.
For now, the world’s most populous country continues to approve import licenses for recovered fiber. | peresanz/Shutterstock
China last week enshrined in law its intent to eliminate “solid waste” imports. Even so, the government continues to approve more imports of recovered fiber.
Sonoco’s converted South Carolina machine will have a capacity of about 180,000 tons per year of recycled paperboard. | Steve Heap/Shutterstock
A major end user of recovered fiber will spend $83 million to retool operations in South Carolina and Wisconsin. But the move comes as the company closes a recycled paperboard mill in Canada.
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Packaging Corporation of America is a major end user of recovered paper in the U.S. | noomcpk/Shutterstock
A Packaging Corporation of America mill that uses recycled fiber will suspend operations for two months as the coronavirus pandemic keeps schools and businesses closed.
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The Total Fiber Recovery project joins a number of other domestic recycled fiber processing capacity expansions that have been announced or come on-line since China began restricting imports. | Siwakorn1933/Shutterstock
A plant taking in mixed paper and OCC is on the way in Virginia, the latest planned domestic market expansion for U.S. recovered fiber.