Not so simple

Brian Taylor

Some people I talk to about the 2014 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference that we’ll be hosting Oct. 8-10 in downtown Chicago are perhaps a little too quick to stereotype the two materials that are the “stars” of this show.

Paper is seen by some as a material of the past. Ink-on-paper communication has lost enormous market share in North America, with both papermakers and recyclers affected by the shrinking use of newspapers, telephone directories, books, paper medical records, office memos and other print products. Just a few weeks before the event, a recycled-content paper mill just outside of Chicago idled its production.

Members of the Specifications Committee of the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), a partner in our event, must determine which types of communication-related papers are still widely available to recyclers.

Less publicized, however, is the staying power and potential growth in paper packaging. One recent application involves corrugated board replacing foils and plastics in coffee packaging. English coffee maker Taylors of Harrogate now is retailing its products in “corrugated shelf-ready packaging” recently recognized by Europe’s Confederation of Paper Industries as “an excellent example of the flexibility and innovation that the [paper] sector offers retailers and brand owners.”

The other star material of the Chicago event, plastic, sometimes carries a reputation as an unstoppable force in the packaging sector and in numerous manufacturing applications. However, if it has an Achilles’ heel, it involves resource conservation.

The plastic bag bans pushed by environmental advocates point to that Achilles’ heel as an agenda item for the plastics industry and its need to play “catch-up” in the recycling and sustainability arenas. Fortunately for recyclers, the plastics industry and its trade associations have demonstrated increased recognition that a cross section of its customer base is serious about recycling.

At the Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference, sessions that look at these aspects of both sectors will be covered. Editorial staff members of Recycling Today who will be in Chicago look forward to hearing your thoughts on the future of the paper and plastics industries.