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.
    25
    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 ----
    60

Prev Next Index