Ahead of the Curve Archive

Consortium to Seek Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions

22 Oct 2014 The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment); the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI (FPL); and the Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, Savannah, GA (Herty), announced the launch of the Consortium for Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions (CAWES).

Why Maine’s Paper Mills are Closing

15 Oct 2014 According to an article published October 3, 2014, by the Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, there’s no one explanation for why three Maine mills have closed so far this year—East Millinocket, Old Town, and Bucksport each supply, or supplied, different markets—but they share the common challenge of relatively high costs for energy and wood while demand for their current products has declined. The three mills that closed were in tough markets.

Bio-products are hatching, (although tentatively)

01 Oct 2014 New pulp and paper industry bio-products have been until now, a typical chicken and egg conundrum.

FSC celebrates 20th Anniversary

24 Sep 2014 “We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last 20 years. We have come a long way, but we can achieve even more. And the World’s forests need that.”

China’s Rush to Flush: The Rise of Toilet Paper

17 Sep 2014 According to an article in Forbes Asia magazine, Chinese consumers are well known for their interest in luxury goods, but enterprising manufacturers are now rushing to take advantage of their more private interest in other comforts of modern life.

RBI Merges imagination with ingenuity in lignocellulosics development

10 Sep 2014 Cellulose, nature's most abundant polymer, is sustainable, renewable, and recyclable. Lignin is a valuable chemical feedstock. Both are found in grasses, trees and agricultural biomass and are building blocks of food, clothing, packaging, coatings and composites, medicine and biomedical products, cosmetics, soaps, paint, aerogels, impact-resistant plastics, and biofuels.

Province offers pulp mills $100 million for energy conservation

27 Aug 2014 B.C.’s Energy Minister is throwing a lifeline to the province’s pulp mills, with up to $100 million for energy conservation projects to help offset rising industrial electricity rates.

Nanocellulose moves from lab to market

20 Aug 2014 The main message from the 2014 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials, held in Vancouver June 23-26, was that after years of development, nanocellulose is now making the leap from the lab to the market but will take time and require more investment in chemistry, physics, and engineering.

National Geographic adds recycled fiber to magazines

06 Aug 2014 In a major step forward for the use of recycled paper in the magazine industry, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has begun incorporating recycled fiber in all the pages of National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Kids, and National Geographic Little Kids.

Greg King wins PPSA's Executive Eagle Award

30 Jul 2014 Greg King, Senior Vice President and General Manager – Recycling, RockTenn, received the Executive Eagle Award during the Pulp and Paper Safety Association (PPSA) conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, in June.