Helsinki, Finland, 28 March 2012 -- UPM has developed a new in-house solution for recycling paper-based release liner back into pulp and paper. Release liner is the siliconized backing material that is an essential part of self-adhesive labelstock until the printed labels are used.
Packers and brand owners can now have their used release paper recycled at UPM’s paper mill’s deinking plant in Plattling, Germany, instead of sending it to incineration. At the UPM facility, the liner is desiliconized and processed into pulp to be used as raw material for UPM’s paper products.
“This innovative solution serves the entire industry. We are very happy that our constant aims to minimize solid waste and maximize the reuse of raw materials are coming true also in the label value chain. With 4 million [metric] tons of recovered paper per year, UPM is the world’s largest user of recycled fiber in graphic papers, and therefore we have access to various types of recovered papers – now also including release papers. This is truly one part of our Biofore thinking coming alive,” said Marko Haveri, portfolio manager, Fine and Speciality Papers.
UPM Plattling mill has a strong focus on sustainability. “We have invested in sophisticated processes for extracting fibers from demanding recovered paper fractions,” said Mika Kämpe, operations director. “Siliconized release paper is a natural expansion to our raw material base, and we are therefore able to offer a sustainable recycling solution to the self-adhesive label industry.”
This concept is open to all companies in the labelling value chain. In line with its Biofore Vision, UPM is committed to developing sustainable recycling solutions for the industry. This release paper recycling concept, for example, complements UPM Raflatac’s existing self-adhesive labelstock waste management concept.
UPM's products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. UPM consists of three Business Groups: Energy and pulp, Paper, and Engineered materials. The Group employs around 24,000 people and it has production plants in 16 countries. UPM's annual sales exceed EUR 10 billion. UPM's shares are listed on the Helsinki stock exchange. Additional information is available at www.upm.com.
UPM Paper is the world’s largest user of recovered paper in the production of graphic papers. Recycled fiber represents one third of all fiber raw materials used in UPM’s paper production. Annually, UPM consumes around 4 million metric tons of recovered paper in newsprint and in uncoated and coated magazine paper production.
UPM Plattling, in southern Germany, is a mill site with three paper machines producing SC and LWC papers for magazine printing from mechanical groundwood and recycled fibers. The combined capacity of the Plattling mill is 800,000 metric tons/year. The mill site includes a deinking plant, which is used to extract fibers from recovered paper.
UPM Raflatac, part of UPM’s Engineered Materials Business Group, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of self-adhesive label materials. UPM Raflatac's waste management concept, RafCycle, offers sustainable recycling solutions for the by-products and waste generated throughout the lifecycle of self-adhesive labelstock. This includes process waste from UPM Raflatac’s laminating and slitting operations, matrix and start-up waste from label printing and converting, and liner waste from label dispensing. Through RafCycle, recycled waste is given a new life as wood-plastic composite products, energy, or paper. Additional information is available at www.rafcycle.com.
|
Print
