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No. 17 August 1998 News for All Interested in Featuring News, Analysis, Resources and Contacts |
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MillWatch table of contents
MillWatch No. 17 - August 1998
But It Was Already Polluted Your Honour ... Domtar Fined
Hog Fuel Pile Causing Trouble At Alberni
Recycled Fibre Growth Up
New Coating Technology For Recyclable Packaging
Instant Recycling
Terry Jacks Still On For Howe Sound
L-P In Colorado
Chlorine Dioxide Still Produces Toxic Effluent
Clean Straw Pulp And Paper For China
Toxic Trains In The Last Best Place ... Another Love Canal?
Count Down As US Dioxin Reassessment Nears Review
Petition Proves Pulp Pollution Plan Still Popular
Copy Centre Chooses New Life
Thanks to Billy Stern, Native Forest Network, Montana; Laurie Valeriano, Washington Toxics Coalition, Seattle; Jane Inch, Canadian Environmental Network Toxics Caucus; Alberni Environmental Coalition; Georgia Strait Alliance; Philip Fleischer; Michael Szabo; the Brainerd Foundation, our many donors, and all those in communities working to help their mill clean up.
Domtar Specialty Fine Papers of St. Catherines Ontario was fined $130,000 for releasing a substance toxic to fish into the Old Welland Canal in 1995. Federal Fisheries Act charges were laid to protect fish downstream in Twelve Mile Creek after lab tests showed the chemical, used to clean paper-making machines, was fatal to rainbow trout.
The company argued that the environmental impact of the incident was "minute" and that the old canal was too polluted for its actions to matter. But Justice of the Peace Morley Kitchen ruled the company responsible. Water pollution is a gradual process of "death by a thousand cuts; each offender is as responsible as the last one," he said.
Most of the money will go to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority for the clean-up and rehabilitation of the Twelve Mile Creek ecosystem.
* St. Catharines - Niagara Standard, July 1998
The Alberni Environmental Coalition has made up its mind that it wants something done about the hog fuel pile which they say has been choking Dry Creek in Port Alberni with dust, debris and leachate for years. A worker at the Pacifica Paper mill, Ted Anderson, became concerned earlier this year when he realized the company's operation to grind waste wood into hog fuel was blowing into the creek.
Later, Anderson realized that workers had been planting water weeds in the years of accumulated sediment and fibre mat in the estuary, in an attempt to rehabilitate the area after years of kraft effluent abuse. The Workers Compensation Board has taken samples of the leachate from the hog fuel pile, where workers were also exposed.
However, the provincial government says they have tested the leachate and it has only once proven toxic to fish. The federal government says they didn't really know there was a problem until a couple of weeks ago, and they have sent an inspector to check it out. However, Snehal Lakhani said it was very early in their investigation and a wood waste issue such as the hog fuel pile is not really captured in the federal Pulp and Paper Regs. The Fisheries Act would apply if the leachate was toxic to fish.
The company plans, not to move the pile, but to collect the leachate and send it to the secondary treatment plant. None the less, the Alberni Environmental Coalition says this is no way to treat salmon habitat. Meanwhile the unresolved issue of what waste chemicals have been dumped on the pile over the years or whether any such material remains to leach out of the pile lurks in the background.
* For more information, scientific reports on the estuary and photos of the leachate, visit http://www.portaec.net
| US Projected Annual Growth Rates, 1998 -2000 | |
|
1.2%
|
Paper & paperboard |
|
0.4%
|
Wood pulp (ie virgin) capacity (Compared to 1.3% over last 10 years) |
|
2.1%
|
Recovered paper (higher in rest of world) |
* AF&PA Annual Capacity Survey, December 1997 (TAPPI Journal, February 1998)
In July ADM Tronics Unlimited, Inc. introduced a new coating technology for recyclable paper packaging. The new resin technology, trademarked Aqualene, consists of a series of environmentally safe, water-based coatings which can replace polyethylene in numerous packaging structures. Although necessary for sealing and as a water and grease resistant layer for paper to be used in most packaging applications, polyethylene is non-recyclable when combined with paper. The new coating has the properties of polyethylene but breaks down in standard repulping equipment, so Aqualene-coated paper packages can be recycled. The potential uses for Aqualene-coated paper include fast food wraps, folding cartons, pouch packaging, disposable cups and plates, ream wraps, bakery trays, etc.
ADM Tronics is supplying trial samples of Aqualene to companies interested in exploring the possibility of eliminating polyethylene in their operations and producing recyclable paper stock.
* Contact: ADM Tronics Unlimited, Inc. Andre' Di Mino; ph: (201)767-6040; fax: (201)784-0620, email: andre@admtronics.com
Imagex Company of Framingham Mass. has received a Small Business Research grant form the US EPA for its ëdecopier,' which will recycle office paper up to five times by loosening laser and photocopy toner, washing it off, and presenting the user with a flat piece of clean paper ready to reuse. Inventor Sushil Bhatia says the non-toxic and non- hazardous product can recycle a piece of paper up to five times.
The decopier eliminates most of the sludge and effluent from deinking, and collects the toner for binding into highway asphalt. A large office will recoup in 18 months the $45,000 cost of a machine which will clean 50 sheets a minute. A smaller model in the $10,000 range is also on the boards, while Bhatia suggests that every neighbourhood needs a "Decopying Centre."
* As It Happens, CBC Radio, June 1998
Singer and pulp activist Terry Jacks has won the first round of his appeal of Howe Sound Pulp and Paper's (HSPP) new extended air pollution permit at the Environmental Appeal Board. The permit was amended in April 1997, because the company's equipment was not performing as well as originally expected. Jack's organization, Environmental Watch, appealed in May.
However, at the end of October, HSPP objected that Environmental Watch was not a person and could not appeal. The Ministry allowed Jacks an extension to file a personal appeal, but the mill objected again, both to the extension and to Jacks' right to appeal, claiming he was not "a person aggrieved."
In July, the Environmental Appeal Board finally ruled on the case: Jacks' had a right to appeal because, under the old wording of the Act, he reasonably believed that he was affected. Further Jacks' reputation as a longtime environmentalist showed that he was "not a mere busybody."
The case will now proceed on the merits of the permit.
* Environmental Appeal Board, Appeal No. 98-WAS-05, http:www.eab.gov.bc.ca/
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. will pay a $37 million fine over five years to settle air emission violations and charges of making false statements in connection with actions committed at L-P's Montrose, Colorado, plant four to seven years ago.
Since the charges were laid, L-P has installed millions of dollars of state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, provided extensive employee training, and expanded environmental and product quality audits. "In the last two years, the Montrose plant has gone from EPA's concern list to becoming an environmental leader," said Mark A. Suwyn, L-P chairman and CEO. As part of its plea agreement with the US Attorney and the Environmental Protection Agency, Louisiana-Pacific will contribute $500,000 to Colorado air pollution programs.
* L-P Press Release, May 1998
In April Greenpeace New Zealand said that the move by Fletcher Challenge's Tasman Pulp & Paper to "elemental chlorine-free" (ECF) technology will still pollute the Tarawera River by continuing to discharge 2-3 tonnes of toxic organochlorine chemicals to the river every day.
"This is at best a half-measure. Tasman is swapping one toxic form of chlorine for another," said Greenpeace toxics campaigner Michael Szabo. "Tasman should instead switch to 100% oxygen bleaching which is 'totally chlorine-free' (TCF). This would also enable the company to move swiftly to their own declared goal of a zero discharge pulp mill."
"The most advanced mills in the world use oxygen-based TCF bleaching because it does not produce any toxic organochlorine pollutants," said Mr Szabo, who is also a member of the Ministry for the Environment's Hazardous Waste Advisory Group.
"For example, Tasman discharge more than 80 cubic metres of toxic chlorinated effluent per tonne of pulp produced. In contrast , TCF mills such as the SCA mill in Ostrand, Sweden, have reduced their effluent to 5 cubic metres per tonne of pulp. Therefore the volume of TCF mill effluents are lower compared to ECF effluents and contain no organochlorine chemicals."
A 1997 Canadian scientific study found that even diluted effluent from a mill using chlorine dioxide bleach caused genetic damage to juvenile salmon (Easton et al, "Genetic Toxicity of Pulp Mill Effluent on Juvenile Chinook Salmon Using Flow Cytometry", in Water Science Technology Vol. 35, No2-3, 1997).
Chlorine dioxide is a highly toxic gas which leads to the production of toxic organochlorine pollutants in pulp mill effluents which include chlorinated acids, chloroform and sulphones. Contrary to Tasman's claims that chlorine dioxide technology does not produce dioxins and furans, Scandinavian scientific studies have found dioxins and furans in discharges from ECF mills (Rappe & Wagman, "Trace Analysis of Dioxins and Furans in Unbleached and Bleached Pulp Samples", in Organohalogan CompoundsVol 23, 1995; and, Rosenberg et al, "Chlorinated Dioxins and Furans in a Pulp & Paper Mill", in Chemosphere Vol 29, 1994).
Other scientific studies show that effluents from ECF mills are more harmful than effluents from TCF mills. For example, the lowest toxicity has been observed in TCF processes (Tana et al, "Assessing Impacts on Baltic Coastal Ecosystems with Mesocosm and Fish Biomarker Tests: A Comparison of New World and Old World Pulp Bleaching Technologies", in Science of the Total Environment, Vol 145, 1994).
A 1995 study of a Finnish mill comparing ECF to TCF bleached pulp effluent found that toxicity levels in TCF effluent were without exception lower than those of ECF effluents (Kovacs et al, "A Comparison of the Environmental Quality of ECF and TCF Bleached Plant Effluent", in Proceedings of the Annual International Non-Chlorine Bleaching Conference, 1995, Florida, USA).
By moving to ECF bleaching Tasman is still unlikely to be able to meet some of the requirements of their new pollution agreements, and have appealed the conditions on the basis that they do not believe they will be able to meet them.
Major European pulp companies such as Sodra Cell, MoDo and SCA that produce TCF pulp report that their TCF product is as bright and strong as ECF products. The ability of TCF pulp to prove itself in the market place is underlined by the fact that in 1996 Sodra Cell significantly increased its TCF export sales to Germany at a time when total paper sales fell there.
* Further information: Michael Szabo; ph: (09) 630 6317 or (025) 790 817.
China is looking for $3 million and foreign experts to help with an Agenda 21 project for cleaner production practices in the pulp and paper industry. The paper industry is a key component of the national economy in China. However, due to old equipment, the pulp and paper industry is one of the major causes of environmental pollution throughout the country. The annual discharge of toxic and hazardous wastewater is 5.3 billion m3, which accounts for 20% of China's total wastewater discharges. Organic pollutants released by paper mills account for over 30% of China's organic industrial wastewater pollutant discharge.
Paper and paperboard output reached 18.10 million tons in 1993; per capita paper consumption however is far lower than the world average.
Most of the mills are small township enterprises using cereal straw fibre. It is estimated that 5,360 small paper mills produce less than 10 thousand tons of paper per year.
This project will establish a demonstration central pulp mill with 30 thousand tons/year capacity in Taian City, Shandong Province. Feasibility studies and preliminary design have been completed.
* For more information contact CIESIN User Services, email: ciesin.info@ciesin.org; fax: (517)797-2622; ph: (517)797-2727
In Missoula, Montana a coalition of organizations has launched a nationwide campaign for the prevention of railroad accidents and the catastrophic chemical releases these accidents create, and for public disclosure of rail transported hazardous chemicals under American Community Right-to-Know laws. The coalition was brought together by chemically injured survivors and evacuees from Alberton, Montana, site of the second largest chlorine spill and largest mixed chemical spill in US railroad history.
Visit the Alberton Community Coalition for Environmental Health website to sign-on electronically http://www.wildrockies.org/cmcr/Campaign/acceh.html
The US EPA says its dioxin reassessment will be ready for public review this summer and should go before the agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB) this fall, according to EPA officials. The new draft is expected to include much stronger language on the carcinogenicity of the most notorious form of dioxin, 2378-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and a new chapter on toxic equivalency factors (TEF).
The World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer listed 2378-TCDD as a known carcinogen in 1997. The conclusion reached in 1994 remains that dioxins other than 2378-TCDD are probable carcinogens and some cancer and noncancer effects are seen at background levels. WHO has dropped its daily acceptable intake from 10 parts per trillion per kilogram of body weight to .01, a thousand-fold decrease. The Canadian standard remains at 10.
The characterization as a known carcinogen will affect American assessment and regulation of TCDD.
* Environmental Science & Technology, July 1998 and Watershed Sentinel
John Cashore, BC Minister of Environment at the time the 1992 Zero AOX regulation was passed, delivered a message to the provincial legislature Wednesday from thousands of citizens who want to see the government continue to take a tough line on pulp pollution.
The regulation mandates BC mills to eliminate organochlorine discharge in their effluent by 2002. While most BC mills are capable of meeting this target by switching to totally chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching, few, if any, are prepared to do so.
Cashore says, "This is one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation passed by the NDP government and I am proud to see it still has so much popular support."
More than 3000 petition signatures have been collected by Reach for Unbleached! (RFU) and Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA). "We know the pulp industry is lobbying hard to have this regulation overturned or simply ignored," says RFU executive director Delores Broten. "We've collected these signatures to remind the provincial government that the Zero AOX law is supported by 80% of British Columbians - according to the government's own poll."
GSA executive director Laurie MacBride adds: "The industry claims there's no market for TCF paper, yet good pulp is good pulp and TCF makes good pulp. Instead of dragging their feet, the BC industry could be leaders in the emerging global green market and continue to satisfy the demands of the existing market."
* Press Release, Reach for Unbleached! and Georgia Strait Alliance, July 1998
In June the University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) announced that its copy shop, "Zap!", will be using New Life, a 100% recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper in its photocopiers. Further, all of the operations of the student union will be switching to this type of paper as their standard printer, fax and copy paper.
According to the chair of the UVSS, Rob Fleming "the society goes through literally millions of sheets of paper each year, mostly in the copy shop, so this kind of change can have a significant impact." The manager of Zap!, William Mohns added that, "the quality of recycled paper has improved dramatically over the last few years. The paper we will be using is a high-quality, bright, white paper, but it is whitened using hydrogen peroxide, which is a much less damaging process."
"Zap! will remain the cheapest place on campus to do photocopying," confirmed UVSS Director of Finance Morgan Stewart.
* William Mohns, Manager, Zap! ph: (250)721-6260 or email: zapcopy@uvic.ca or Paper Choice, a local supplier of environmental papers: 1(800)567-4055.