In The News

In The News

Last Updated (Thursday, June 17, 2010)

AF&PA Recycling Award goes to Continental Airlines
   Continental Airlines recently received the 2010 American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) Business Leadership Recycling Award for its targeted, cost-effective, manageable, and sustainable recycling program. The airline was able to recover more than 6,000 tons of paper and paper-based packaging for recycling from 2006 to 2009.  The company’s environmental affairs and communications staff boosted the previous recycling efforts with increased e-mail updates, posts on video monitors and ticker displays, articles in employee and customer publications, and company blogs and websites.
   “Paper recovery has reached a record high in the U.S.  In 2009, 63.4% of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, exceeding an industry goal three years ahead of schedule,” said AF&PA president and CEO Donna Harman.  “Recycling programs like the one demonstrated by Continental Airlines serve as great examples of the ongoing commitment of the American people to this important environmental success story.” 
   Recycling results are tracked and measured, and have become part of the company’s Eco-SkiesÔ brand.  Proceeds from the recycling program are donated to We Care, a non-profit organization that helps Continental Airlines employees.
   For information on the annual AF&PA Recycling Awards, as well as background materials, free classroom resources, and interactive features, visit www.paperrecycles.org.

 

DPDA: inkjet printed paper can be deinked
   The Digital Print Deinking Alliance (DPDA) is issuing a series of scientific research reports concerning the deinkability of inkjet printed papers, with the first presented at the PTS/CTP Deinking Symposium held in Munich, Germany recently reports risinfo.com. A study by Centre Technique du Papier (CTP) of Grenoble, France, shows that inkjet prints could be deinked using a procedure that mimics the function of a European mixed-grade paper recycling system.
   The DPDA’s Gary Williams, PE, paper scientist at InfoPrint Solutions Company, reviewed the CTP research data with those experts gathered at the international symposium. The first study, he said, set a baseline for future testing of inkjet prints. Nearly all samples were successfully deinked in test conditions that included bleaching, he noted.
   The test samples were printed on standard aqueous dye-based inkjet inks on uncoated woodfree paper, with three representative dye-based inksets. Test conditions were representative of current deinking technology for processing mixed grades of recovered paper. Almost all colorants were successfully deinked with hydrosulphite bleach and one case needed only peroxide for deinking.
   The study was encouraging, as it showed that inkjet printed papers are deinkable  under conditions that simulate the total paper recycling process for mixed grades of paper. Inkjet printing is used on less than 1% of printed papers today, but that is expected to grow as the benefits of inkjet printing   penetrate offset printing markets.   
   DPDA research will continue with other types of inkjet inks and paper combinations, and DPDA members will work collaboratively with INGEDE and the paper industry to develop the technologies for good deinking performance.   

Gemark Services of West Virginia Achieves NAID AAA Certification

   Gemark Corporation, Bluefield, WV, recently announced its National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) AAA certification of its Bluefield, WV facilities. The certification covers Gemark’s transfer processing station and its plant-based operations in the destruction of Paper/Print Media, Micro Media and Computer Hard Drives.

   NAID’s purpose is to champion the responsible destruction of confidential information and materials by promoting high standards and ethics. The achievement of NAID’s AAA Certification represents the highest level of classification that NAID offers. Requirements include stringent employee clearance, training, facility security measures, strict protocols, specific destruction requirements and unannounced audits by authorized NAID security professionals.

   Gemark provides a secure and environmentally friendly avenue to end the life cycle of nformation held within media and electronic and paper files. Gemark is equipped to handle large volumes of sensitive medical, legal and archived files. Services also include the recovery of precious metals such as silver out of x-rays, microfilm and microfiche.

 

Excel Manufacturing CEO will be Missed
   It is with heavy hearts that the recycling industry bids farewell to Excel Manufacturing C.E.O. Bryan A. Fisher who died in his home in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota on April 29, 2010.  All who knew Bryan knew he possessed an all consuming passion for power and precision which manifested itself through his love of airplanes, speed boats, Ducati motorcycles and fast sports cars.  That same passion guided his equipment designs and broke the industry mold, showing owners they could expect more of their baling equipment.
   Most company founders with conviction as strong as Fisher's would rule with a firm hand, yet Bryan was proud to recruit good talent, share his vision, and get out of the way.  That trust created a strong and dedicated management team that allowed Bryan to spend the last 5 years semi-retired, flying his amphibious float plane and most recently earning his helicopter pilots license. 
   According to company officials, Excel Manufacturing has experienced tremendous market growth in recent years and plans are to continue this path.  Strategy and daily operations of the business will remain the responsibility of Todd Wondrow who has led Excel Mfg. as President since 2005. Majority ownership of Excel remains in the Fisher family with his father who has been an investor in the company for years. 
   Bryan will be missed by many and be remembered by all who had an opportunity to know him.

Iron Mountain Calls on CMS to Expand Its Rules for e-Health Records Company Urges the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to Reimburse Providers for Early EHR Efforts like Digitizing Paper Records
   Iron Mountain Incorporated recently called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to expand its proposed rules for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHR) so healthcare providers would be eligible to receive federal subsidies for digitizing paper records and scrubbing patient databases. 
   Iron Mountain made its recommendations to CMS in response to the agency’s Meaningful Use Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in December.
   In the regulation, CMS outlined 25 criteria that caregivers and hospitals must meet before they can receive reimbursement under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Missing though from CMS’s initial proposal are key first steps like scanning physical records and cleaning out patient databases that providers must do to implement EHR successfully.