|
Report 2 of 5:
Algae
Paper - Italy
Introduction
The paper making industry is widely regarded as one which has paid little attention to the environmental effects of its activities. It is seen as using up natural resources, such as land, trees, water and energy to make a final product which has a very short useful life. After only one use, most paper becomes a waste product which presents a nuisance and which contributes to the overall waste-disposal problem, especially in urban areas. Since the 1970s, public opinion in many parts of the world has put increasing pressure on the paper companies to improve their attitude to environmental issues but the industry as a whole still consumes large amounts of timber as its main raw material and is a major user of water.
Recycling paper
The public pressure and new laws encouraged the industry to recycle more waste paper, to reduce the demand for timber and, worldwide, large amounts of waste are now re-used. However, although paper recycling is a positive step, it is not the perfect answer, either from the environmental or the economic points of view. The recycling process requires the removal of printing ink which generates a polluting residue. Also, because repulping damages the fibres which make up the paper, the final product is always considered to be inferior to "new" paper - and so it commands a lower price. The alternative is to replace cellulose fibre from trees with other materials.
Cartiera Favini
The Italian paper company, Cartiera Favini, has taken more radical steps to improving the environmental situation in its own production. The company, in the Veneto region of north-east Italy, was founded in 1736 when a windmill was converted into a paper factory. It used textile waste as its raw material, producing 20Kg of paper per hour. Since then, the company has grown and now produces some 8,000Kg of paper per hour. The company, which is relatively small by paper-industry standards, is not typical of the industry as a whole because it concentrates on "speciality papers", operating in a niche market for products which have a high quality and command high prices and for which the demand is small.
In 1990, the senior management recognised the value to the company's sales and image arising from an environmentally sound production policy and took the bold decision to find ways to reduce its use of natural resources. By pioneering the use of new raw materials to substitute for the conventional paper making materials, it has since demonstrated that unconventional materials can produce high-quality paper products without serious financial implications. In 1991, the company embarked on its "EcoFavini" ecological production programme which began to introduce a range of products with improved environmental benefits. It now has a policy of finding innovative ways of using the wastes of other industries as its own raw materials.
Algae Paper
In the early 1990s, serious pollution in the Adriatic sea resulted in the Venice Lagoon becoming infested with thousands of tonnes of algae which caused serious problems by reducing the natural oxygen level in the water which in turn killed fish and caused bad smells. In order to combat these problems, the algae are collected from the lagoon and brought ashore for disposal. The 50,000 tonnes of algae collected each year is the papermaking equivalent to 30,000 tonnes of trees. The research and development team at Cartiera Favini succeeded in finding a way of processing some of this waste so that it can be used as a substitute for some of the cellulose fibre in its papers.
The algae must be dried immediately in order to ensure that it does not begin to rot and smell and then it is finely ground into "flour". No chemicals are used in the process. The flour is then added to the paper pulp, as a replacement for some wood fibre, and the pulp used in conventional machinery to make high quality paper. There is a significant saving in fuel use because processing the algae needs only half as much energy as wood cellulose processing. The effect in the Favini mill is that, in each working day, as well as 20 trees, 40 tanks of fuel are saved. The product, like all the others in the company's range, is recyclable and free of both acid and chlorine.
In the very early stages, the costs of production were three times those of conventionally produced papers with similar qualities but now the costs are close to those of traditional paper. It is expected that the costs will eventually be very much lower.
Sugar Paper
Italy grows large quantities of sugar beet and, after the sugar has been extracted, the remaining pulp presents a disposal problem to the sugar industry. At the Favini paper mill, this waste has been successfully used to develop a product which they call Sugar Paper. This represents an important development because it takes the waste from one industry and uses it as a raw material in another. There are, therefore, two good environmental effects - the paper maker is able to save trees and the sugar industry does not have to find a way of disposing of a possible pollutant.
Maize paper
In a similar way to sugar paper, the company has also succeeded in using the fibrous wastes from maize processing - stalk, leaves, cob and bran - to substitute for some of the wood cellulose used in paper.
Other papers
Both sugar and maize residues contain some fibres which have some similarities with wood cellulose but the Favini company has found ways of using other residues which have little or no fibre content, such as the residual pulp of citrus fruit pressing and grape pressing. In these cases, the pulp is dried and very finely ground to make "flour". The flour can then be used to replace an equal amount of wood cellulose and mineral fillers in the paper process. The company gives the products names which come from the original waste, for example, "Orange paper", "Lemon paper" and "Wine paper", which the consumer can identify easily as showing that these papers are environmentally sound.
Smog paper
The company's most startling recycling process is used in what they call "Smog paper". The factory's furnaces, like all fossil fuel burners, produce effluent gases which are universally recognised as harmful pollutants. In the case of the Favini company, this effluent is the equivalent to the pollution of 30 cars travelling at 50kph. The company has found a way of collecting these gases and "fixing" them in a harmless powder which they call "Smog flour" and which is used, in the same way as the vegetable flours, to produce a paper with a recognisable name.
Sludge
All paper making processes leave a residue of fine materials which have not been caught up in the paper as it is formed in the machine. The materials are suspended in water and carried away for disposal. In the Favini factory, the resulting scum on the water in the settling tanks is skimmed off during the water cleaning process. The water is reused and the scum is fed back into the pulp stage for further savings. The reuse of the scum materials effectively increases the efficiency of the production process by reducing raw material costs. The recycling of water has had a dramatic effect on the company's water consumption. Over a period of eight years, Favini reduced the amount of water it took from the mains supply from 2 million to 300,000 cubic metres per year.
Environment versus profitability?
The company's policy of following an environment-friendly policy does not seem to have interfered with its need to perform well financially. The ecological products have generated great interest in the news media, both within Italy and internationally, and have won several awards for the company. The result has been to stimulate the market for all the company's products due to the improvement in its public image. Compared with other Italian paper companies quoted on the Milan stock exchange, Favini's income performance has been significantly better than the average.
For further information, please contact:
Geopolimeri Srl – Gruppo Favini
Via Cartiera, 21 – I-36028 Rossano Veneto
(Vicenza)
Italy
Tel: +39 0424 547770 / 84722
Fax: +39 0424 84509
E-mail: geopol@tin.it |
Intermediate Technology Development Group would like to thank Cartiera Favini, in particular, Marnie Campagnaro, for providing the original material on environmentally friendly paper making in Italy.
This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.
|
