PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The production of recycled paper produces a lot of waste, especially during the triturating of wastepaper in the pulper. In France , 70 paper mills are producing recycled paper; they recycled over 5 million tonnes of old paper and cardboard in 1999. At European level, 35 million tonnes of old paper were recycled in 1998. Recycled paper is utilised for producing cardboard, newspaper, toilet paper, industrial papers, etc. The waste produced during the triturating of wastepaper in the pulper represent more than 80% of all the waste produced by a pulp mill. Once compacted, the waste still contains 50% of water but also 20% of long cellulose fibres, 25% of plastic and 5% of inert material. It is disposed of in special dump sites, representing both an important production cost and a threat for the environment. However, national fiscal measures and new environmental requirements are making final disposal in landfills more costly and conditional to meeting increasingly stringent requirements. Gate fees, which will increase as new solutions will have to be engineered into landfills at additional costs, as well as sustainable development prerogatives, are all contributing to the need to devise cost-effective solutions for waste reduction at source.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of the project is to implement on the site of "La Papeterie de la Seine" an innovative and preventive technology for the recycling of waste from the pulp an paper industry. The RECYPULPE process allows for a decrease of 60% in the production of the 20 000 tonnes of pulper waste produced by company, while at the same time allowing for the remaining 40% to be recycled. The waste finally produced should be composed of two recyclable parts: one part, representing 35% of the initial waste, is made of clean and dry plastic granules (polyethylene), which can be burned or recycled as construction material; the second part representing 5% of the initial waste, is made of inert material such as metals and stones.
RESULTS
The start of the project was difficult because of negotiations between the partners: the producer of the waste, the recycling company and the engineering specialist. These difficulties were finally overcome, and this is by itself an interesting result of the project: it illustrates that solving an environmental problem can often be done only by a partnership approach, establishing new contractual relationships between the producer of the waste and the recycling company. Thus, despite initial teething problems, the project was implemented and a pilot unit for the treatment of 10 000 pulper waste was designed and constructed on the "Papeterie de la Seine" site. The process separates the waste into its different constituents. After an initial shredding, different mechanical treatment stages separate the metals and plastics fractions from the water fraction containing the cellulose fibres. This water is then reintroduced in the paper mill, generating productivity gains, and plastics are used as substitute fuels. The recovery rate is then around 95%. The pilot "RECYPULPE" process permits the reuse of 5 000 m3 of water and cellulose, and generates 4 500 tonnes of plastics of high calorific value for energy recovery. It is due to be recognised by the French environment administration in 2003 and should then be applied in the SMURFIT group, who owns 14 paper mills in 9 countries and utilises yearly 1.5 million tonnes of recycled paper. The start of the project was difficult because of negotiations between the partners: the producer of the waste, the recycling company and the engineering specialist. These difficulties were finally overcome, and this is by itself an interesting result of the project: it illustrates that solving an environmental problem can often be done only by a partnership approach, establishing new contractual relationships between the producer of the waste and the recycling company. Thus, despite initial teething problems, the project was implemented and a pilot unit for the treatment of 10 000 pulper waste was designed and constructed on the "Papeterie de la Seine" site. The process separates the waste into its different constituents. After an initial shredding, different mechanical treatment stages separate the metals and plastics fractions from the water fraction containing the cellulose fibres. This water is then reintroduced in the paper mill, generating productivity gains, and plastics are used as substitute fuels. The recovery rate is then around 95%. The pilot "RECYPULPE" process permits the reuse of 5 000 m3 of water and cellulose, and generates 4 500 tonnes of plastics of high calorific value for energy recovery. It is due to be recognised by the French environment administration in 2003 and should then be applied in the SMURFIT group, who owns 14 paper mills in 9 countries and utilises yearly 1.5 million tonnes of recycled paper.
