MillWatch

In House Recycling from Toshiba

You can't buy it in North America yet, but Toshiba has begun marketing an in-house paper recycling system for Japan, China and India. The concept has the potential to save money, simplify office paper recycling and eliminate the transportation, handling and processing of recycled office paper.

The essence of the "e-blueTM" system, in development since 1998, is an innovative ink that is entirely free of carbon and that de-colours when exposed to a high level of heat. The toner prints words and images on standard plain paper in blue to distinguish it from normal carbon-black-based toner. Toshiba will target initial sales of "e-blueTM" at corporate clients who use laser printers and standard black toner, and plans to extend the application of "e-blueTM" products in the near future to include copy machines and large-scale, industrial-use printing.

Toshiba is not announcing the price of the erasing machine, but the pens are priced at 300 yen, about $3.75 Canadian and the e-blue de-colourable toner at $250.

MillWatch hopes Toshiba considers schools as another target market

* Toshiba Press Release, December 2003
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2003_12/pr0201.htm

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Office Paper Buying Club

The next Buying Club order deadline is Jan. 23rd for delivery 1st week of February

Please place your order on line by filling out the easy order form at www.rfu.org/buyingclub.htm or by email copypaperbuyingclub@shaw.ca or call Paper Choice at 1-800-567-4055.

PLEASE ORDER ONLINE IF POSSIBLE.

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Norske's Mills

The Norske pulp mills on Vancouver Island have applied to BC Hydro to supply power to the Island through a combination of energy efficiency measures and co-generation of power by burning natural gas. Simultaneously, those same mills are holding trials of various unorthodox fuels for Canadian mills, such as coal (Elk Falls), tires (Powell River and Port Alberni) and railway ties (Crofton) which they plan to use instead of natural gas. Not all the mills have equal modernized boilers and pollution control equipment.

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Port Alberni:

Fuel: tires

Savings: $20,000 a month since 1999.
     (See "Burning Rubber at the Mill," Watershed Sentinel, June/July 2000).

Pollution control devices:

• Bubbling fluidized bed which forces air into the fire bed, and reaches 1600 degrees C, hot enough to destroy volatile organics,
• Carbon monoxide monitor in the chamber and controlled feed to keep the fire even,
• Electrostatic precipitator with ozonation to catch metals, and
• The tightest air emission permit on Vancouver Island.

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Powell River:

Fuel: tires (trial, 2003)

Savings: $2 million a year if approved full time

Pollution control devices:

• New boiler with
• New fluidized bed,
• Five stage Electrostatic precipitator with very high removal rates

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Elk Falls near Campbell River:

Fuel: coal (permit to 2005)

Savings: $1000 a day

Pollution control devices:

• Wet Electrostatic Precipitator
• Scrubbers

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Crofton:

Fuel: coal, used railway ties, and tires (application for trial 2003)

Savings: ???

Pollution control devices:

• Precipitator
• Multiclones

See Also "They Recycle Tires, Don't They" at in the January-February 2004 issue of the Watershed Sentinel at http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/

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Small Step on Crofton

The Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP) has extended the deadline for public comments on the Crofton pulp mill proposal to burn tires, coal and treated railway ties to Jan 31. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to help achieve this delay.

Please plan to attend a public meeting at the Crofton Community Centre, 7:00 pm Tuesday, January 20 sponsored by the Crofton Airshed Citizens Group.

* Update from the Crofton Airshed Citizens Group, http://www.croftonair.org

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