Ahead of the Curve Archive

Celebrating National Forest Products Week

19 Oct 2016 “Whereas the bounty of our forest and timber lands provides our people with a source of strength and pride; and Whereas as a major renewable resource, supported by the science of modern forestry, wood offers the availability and abundance to satisfy the Nation’s ever growing needs for many products—lumber, paper, building materials, chemicals, furniture, and cloth—all dedicated to improving the lives of our people…”

Classroom Paper Use Increasing, Survey Shows

12 Oct 2016 Though the “digital classroom” may be in the news, a recent report confirms that kids, teachers and parents still love paper. Paper and Productive Learning: The Second Annual Back-to-School Report, commissioned by the Paper and Packaging Board, surveyed 4,300 students, parents and teachers in the United States and shows that not only does paper still have a role in the classroom, but its use and importance is growing.

Event Report: Specialty Papers US

06 Oct 2016 Professionals from large and small specialty papers manufacturing companies, along with industry suppliers and end users, converged in Chicago, IL, September 21-23 for Specialty Papers US 2016. The event was sponsored jointly by Smithers Pira and TAPPI.

Innovation: The Long View

28 Sep 2016 The following is an excerpt from a series of articles in the September/October issue of Paper360° focusing on Research and Development in the pulp and paper industry.

Scientific Work Shows How Corrugated Stops Bacteria

21 Sep 2016 New scientific work explains why corrugated packaging outperforms returnable plastic containers (RPCs) when it comes to micro-biological contamination. As reported by the Corrugated Packaging Alliance, the work was conducted by Professor Rosalba Lanciotti and her research team at the University of Bologna’s Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences and published in Frontiers in Microbiology. It follows a research study published in late June that showed corrugated containers keep fruit and vegetables fresh up to three days longer than RPCs.

SCA will Split into Two Listed Companies in 2017

14 Sep 2016 The new hygiene company will receive a new name and be registered in Stockholm, and the forest products company will keep the name SCA.

‘We believe in potential and performance’

08 Sep 2016 An interview with Suzano’s Walter Schalka, RISI’s 2016 Latin America CEO of the Year

Bioenergy Technologies Office Allocates US$1 Million for Round 2 of the DOE’s Small Business Vouchers Pilot

31 Aug 2016 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Pilot, which is part of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE’s) National Laboratory Impact Initiative, in collaboration with national laboratories, supports small businesses to advance energy technology and help transform our biomass resources into commercially successful, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower.

Recovered paper markets for the rest of the year: What to expect

24 Aug 2016 By Hannah Zhao, RISI After falling for about half a year, the national average price of OCC in the US market finally bottomed out in April and has continued to climb since, reaching US$106/tonne (metric ton) in July, the highest level since June 2014. The price run for mixed paper and old newspaper (ONP) during this period was even faster. The recent price jump reflected the rebound in export demand and the limited supply for these grades, especially for ONP and mixed paper.

Notes from Rio

17 Aug 2016 By Marcello Collares, Fisher International I have been watching the Olympics along with everyone else in Brazil and around the world. As announcers tally the successes of each nation’s athletes, I hear the same country names that we regularly associate with success in the paper industry. Recently I found myself running to my FisherSolveTM database to answer questions that popped into my head about pulp and paper production in various regions of the world. In the spirit of the Olympics (and because I suspect I’m not the only one in the industry with an inquiring impulse about paper), here are some data and statistics about the nexus of international accomplishments in Olympic medals and the paper industry.