NAA's Board of Directors has approved a resolution supporting regional and voluntary approaches to purchasing commitments for recycled newsprint.

The resolution supports recent studies from the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force, available online at www.nerc. org. Consisting of state government recycling officials, newspaper publishers and state press associations, the commission conducted the studies to determine the current and future availability of recycled-content newsprint in the region.

Questioning whether the supply of recycled newsprint would meet recycled-content requirements, now rising to 50 percent in some states, NERC's task force recommended a regional approach favoring voluntary purchasing commit-ments over mandated recycled-content percentages.

Heidelberg's New Press Heidelberg's first newspaper press will be a straight-format, double-width press featuring technology developed and refined in commercial-printing circles. Three years in the making, specifications for the gapless, shaftless eight-page MainStream 80 were developed following discussions with nearly 100 newspaper-industry decisionmakers. Heidelberg opted to develop a straight-format press "because of the trend toward uneven, unbalanced sections, tighter deadlines and narrower print windows," says Peter Walczak, technical-sales specialist for the recently formed Heidelberg Web Systems, which combined the German company's mailroom and pressroom divisions. The 80,000 copy-per-hour press will be introduced at DRUPA 2000 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

"Over the years, a number of states have attempted to legislate the percentage of recycled content in newspapers," explains NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. "While we actively encourage our members to use as much recycled content as available, it's important that the actual amount be voluntary. Mandatory percentages often are not in sync with the available supply of recycled content."

The NAA Board resolution, passed Feb. 6, affirms the Association's belief that "newsprint made with recycled-content fiber can be equal in runability, print quality and price to newsprint made from 100 percent [virgin-]wood fiber."

The board supports NERC's findings, saying its voluntary approach "promotes consistency and simplification, while continuing to advance the recycling of old newspapers by reaffirming publishers' preferences for recycled-content newsprint."

A national old-newspaper recovery rate of 68 percent "shows that these partner-ships work," the Board stated.

"We believe that newspaper commit-ments in the Northeast to buy recycled-content newsprint will help to maintain the momentum achieved by expanding newspaper recycling. Further, such commitments will help to drive further investments and expansions in the capacity for recycled newsprint production by manufacturers."

Online reporting will speed up the process of compiling quarterly reports by allowing newspapers to enter and edit their own data, says Ruth Bohner, NAA's production-materials director. Quarterly waste reports will be made available as soon as data have been received from all newspapers, and participants may view reports at any time and compare their waste statistics to newspapers of similar size.

The new reporting system is fully automated to encourage prompt responses from newspaper participants, says John D'Alessandro, NAA production-materials manager.

E-mail reminders to submit reports are sent to participants, and notices are automatically sent when aggregated statistics are complete and ready for viewing.

D'Alessandro's primary goal is to populate the database more fully. Only about 150 newspapers are now regular participants in the reporting system, but 400 members are on the mailing list.

"The more people we have participating in this, the higher the integrity of the information," he says.

"It just makes sense. You'll get a better average with more people reporting."

The new waste tracking report may be found at www.naa.org/technology/newswast. To view the questionnaire, you must first register for a free login account and password by contacting D'Alessandro at (703) 902-1858 or dalej@naa.org; or Jessica Davis at (703) 902-1855, davje@naa.org.

Newspapers without Internet access may still participate in the new waste-tracking system by submitting a hard copy of the questionnaire.

Karen Doss is a free-lance writer based in Bridgewater, Va. E-mail, kdoss@bridgewater.edu; phone, (540) 828-5720.

NAA's Newsprint Mill Map provides a bird's-eye view of every mill in North America. Along with the location of mills in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the map shows the principal tree species throughout each country. Legends along the edges of the map provide information about each mill, including location and surrounding tree types, parent company, estimated capacity and TAPPI/NARI company codes.

The map costs $24.50 for NAA members and $49 for nonmembers, with quantity discounts available. To order the map, item #10066, call (800) 651-4622, or 1 (304) 725-7050 from overseas.

TechNews Volume 5, Number 2: March/April 1999 Return to March/April Home Page