Day 062 - 06 Dec 94 - Page 24
1
2 Q. But you cannot with paper close it indefinitely?
3 A. At this point in time you cannot close it
4 indefinitely. I can give examples where we are testing
5 that it is actually closed with post-industrial waste,
6 where waste that is made from cup production for
7 McDonald's, which actually goes to one of the other
8 suppliers to McDonald's that uses that fibre in a type of
9 paper plate that is being made and which is used in
10 Germany, and we are doing a similar test, or at this point
11 in time one of our -- for instance, the recycled napkin
12 producer is trying out whether it is possible to use the
13 same sort of fibre in their napkins.
14
15 Q. So far as you are aware -- again you must say if you do not
16 know the answer -- are there any environmental advantages
17 to be had from the process of paper recycling as opposed to
18 the process of making paper from virgin fibre?
19 A. I understand that there can be energy benefits in the
20 life cycle of recycled paper. In itself, recycling in
21 general is associated with, for instance, less bleaching
22 than making a virgin paper. So, therefore, you would have
23 an added benefit from that. But that is not the recycling
24 of paper itself.
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26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to pick a moment to break,
27 Mr. Rampton?
28
29 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, that would do well. I was going to ask
30 just a few questions about 7.3 and then a general question
31 about reduction.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There is one matter then which may be
34 obvious. There is a limit to the number of times you can
35 recycle paper products before the fibres get so short that
36 it is difficult to use; is that right?
37 A. Yes, basically what happens is you can recycle and
38 recycle but at a certain point the paper fibres start to
39 get so short that they will be sieved out in the paperboard
40 making process.
41
42 Q. And what you have then has to be disposed somehow?
43 A. So it will end up in the paper sludge in a sludge
44 coming out -----
45
46 Q. I was going to ask, it is as paper sludge. How is that
47 generally disposed of?
48 A. It is generally -- it then goes into, for instance,
49 with Enso it goes into a large paper -- a large paper, what
50 is the word ---
51
52 MR. RAMPTON: Tank?
53 A. -- no. It goes into a cleaning plant, what we use for
54 here to clean our own -- before we can dump it into a river
55 before we -----
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand.
58 A. Most or large paper plants like Enso have their own
59 cleaning plants, so after the disposal water ----
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