New Forest Paper Mills wins award for eco products and processes

Corrugated Paper Boxes In an era when paper mills are closing elsewhere, a new 100% recycled paper facility located in the heart of Canada's largest city won a silver award for environmental performance in the Packaging Association of Canada's (PAC) first annual Sustainable Packaging Awards. New Forest Paper Mills, a joint venture between Atlantic Packaging Products and Québec-based strategic partner Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging, received the award in the Canadian facility or process sector. The Sustainable Packaging Leadership Awards were created to accelerate the progress of the packaging industry in environmental, social and economic sustainability. There is a range of categories in which packaging manufacturers and packaged goods companies can compete. The guiding principles and judging criteria are based on the general definitions of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. The award winners were announced in April, 2008. New Forest produces 100% recycled paper for corrugated boxes used for the food and beverage industry along with a diverse range of other products. The state-of-the-art mill opened in 2006 adjacent to Atlantic Packaging headquarters in east-end Toronto. It is the first containerboard paper mill to be built in Canada in 25 years and one of the most ecologically advanced facilities in the country. "We are very pleased for the recognition from PAC," says John Cherry, president of Atlantic Packaging Products. "The New Forest mill represents some of the latest technology in recycled paper production, energy efficiency and waste management. Our corrugated packaging is made in various weights and strengths by recycling the very products that we create in a closed-loop operation." The mill is strategically located close to the source of raw material, what Atlantic calls "the urban forest." After recycled boxes are collected, they're soaked and agitated in water to separate the fibres into long and short strands. A small percentage of the fibres are too small to reuse for recycling, but the sediment from them is dried and sold for other uses such as cat litter. The wash water is full of starch, a natural bacteria. The starch serves as the bonding agent for the boxes and is treated in a natural anaerobic process that generates methane, which the mill captures and burns to fuel other processes, reducing natural gas requirements by 5%. The waste water that leaves the plant after treatment meets or exceeds all bylaw requirements. No contaminants are discharged into sewers. Sludge left over from the anaerobic process is composted or burned at controlled temperatures in a nearby Atlantic facility to produce steam, again displacing the use of natural gas. The mill and adjacent facility operate quietly and almost inconspicuously with a system to reduce the visibility of the water vapor rising from the chimneys. Clay that is recovered from recycled waste material is to be sold to cement manufacturers. New Forest produces 230,000 tonnes of liner and corrugated paper a year. This represents six million trees that are saved from destruction and 11,000 trucks of landfill that would have gone to a dump. "We're very proud to say that in the 62 years that Atlantic Packaging has been in operation, we've never cut down a tree," says Cherry. "Since we opened our first recycling mill in 1968, we've constantly improved our processes. We believe New Forest is a preview of the paper mill of the future." Atlantic Packaging Products Limited is a privately-owned company that has developed a successful business model based on creating valuable consumer, institutional and industrial paper products from recycled materials. Atlantic Packaging has 22 manufacturing facilities, recycling operations and warehouses, including newsprint and paper machines, paper box manufacturing facilities, paper and polyethylene bag-making operations, consumer tissue products, and the design, testing and manufacturing facilities for decorative corrugated packaging. The company employs over 2,500 people in Canada and the U.S. Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging produces and distributes corrugated boxes and decorative displays. The company is based in Saint-Laurent with two manufacturing facilities in Montréal and one in Drummondville, Québec.