Larry N. Montague, TAPPI President and CEO, wants to know what’s keeping you up at night. How is the current pandemic changing how you operate and do business? We want to hear your stories.

With millions of students across the country forced to shift to study at home, the race is on to get essential resources to those without access. As other industries work to provide online learning access, the paper and packaging sector is uniquely placed to provide analog tools like writing equipment and pop-up corrugated workspaces.

Mondi, a leading global packaging and paper group, is committed to playing its part in the supply of essential products during the COVID-19 outbreak and has recently developed packaging for QIAGEN's SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test kit.

The Coronavirus Epidemic has negatively impacted the supply chains for numerous industry sectors worldwide the past few months. Many commodity products saw reduced trade during March and April, a result of reduced demand, closures of manufacturing facilities to protect workers, constraint in the handling capacity of goods at many ports, and widespread financial distress.

Cariboo Pulp and Paper in Quesnel, British Columbia is returning to operations after taking an extended downtime, Pulp & Paper Canada reports.

Mercer International announced that its Celgar mill, in addition to regularly planned maintenance downtime of five days, will be taking approximately 30 days of additional downtime in July 2020, which will result in an aggregate production reduction of 52,000 ADMT (air dried metric tons) of NBSK pulp.

Neles, which is to become an independent listed company upon the partial demerger of Metso, is assuming a new corporate brand and visual identity. The new identity will be fully adopted at the completion of the transaction when Neles starts its independent business operations. The completion of the transaction is expected to take place on June 30, 2020.

Effective June 1, 2020, Solenis LLC closed on its previously announced acquisition of the paper business of ChemSystems, a division of AECI Ltd.

The Sofidel America plants in Circleville, Ohio, and Haines City, Florida, obtained the BRC (British Retail Consortium) “Consumer Product Standard for Household & Personal Care Products” certification, a standard that certifies that business processes take into account product safety, legality and quality requirements and the company’s ability to deliver safe and quality products to final consumers.

Publishers Weekly reports unit sales of print books rose 7.7% in the week ended May 16, 2020, over the comparable period in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Strong sales in both juvenile categories and a solid performance by the adult fiction category drove the gains.

Cascades announced the closure of the Brown Containerboard Packaging facility located in Burlington, Ontario, as part of the Corporation’s continuing optimization initiatives for its Containerboard Packaging business.

“We are really satisfied with the quality of our paper. We have received very positive feedback from our customers, who are impressed by the softness and handfeel,” says Attila Vajda, CEO, Vajda Papír.

Xylem will deliver a Wedeco ozone plant for the new pulp mill LD Celulose in Brazil, a joint venture between Lenzing and Duratex in which Lenzing holds a 51 percent, Duratex a 49 percent stake. LD Celulose will have the capacity to produce 500,000 tons of dissolving wood pulp per year and represents an investment of US$ 1.3 billion. Dissolving pulp is pure cellulose derived from wood processing and is used as the key raw material to manufacture textile and specialty fibers. These sustainable fibers are an excellent substitute for instance tonon-biodegradable oil-based fibers such as polyester.

Metsä Board is adding three new grades into its Express Board offering. The new eco-barrier paperboard MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB, uncoated folding boxboard MetsäBoard Natural FBB and MetsäBoard Pro FBB OBAfree are now available with enhanced availability and quick lead times via the Express Board service.

Blue Paper will increase capacities at its corrugated case material mill by 40,000 tpy, according to Euwid. The expansion comes with an upgrade at the dryer section of the PM.

A new thick paperboard from Iggesund Paperboard has been certified for HP Indigo for printing high-value applications on commercial digital presses.

Together with the startup company Snap Support, Stora Enso's Paper division is happy to launch a new digital solution for remote technical customer services — Snap Support by Stora Enso.

Many brands and retailers could reduce the climate impact of their packaging up to 50 percent and avoid thousands of metrick tons of carbon dioxide being emitted to air. The results is based on a large number of life cycle assessments performed by BillerudKorsnäs in a new tool that evaluates the environmental impact of different packaging solutions.

Nearly half of the CPGs interviewed for “Packaging Sustainability: A Changing Landscape 2020” are working to reduce their overall carbon footprint, focusing on reducing water, gas, and electric. Package design and primary packaging lines are other areas of focus, but secondary packaging lines are also under scrutiny to become more efficient.

The Plymouth Mill has taken another step toward a more sustainable future thanks to the success of a recent resource conservation project. Just one year after the installation of a cooling tower and new heat exchangers, the mill’s closed-loop system for heating process water has exceeded expectations by dramatically reducing daily water consumption and fuel costs.

Brussels-based corrugated packaging industry association FEFCO has announced that Fady Gemayel has been elected as its new president. Gemayel is a co-owner and honorary chairman at France-based Gemayel Freres S.A.L., a family owned corrugated cardboard company.

Verso Corporation (NYSE: VRS) announced that Terrence M. Dyer has been appointed Verso's Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Communications, effective June 1, 2020.

The International Corrugated Case Association (ICCA) Board of Directors elected Mr. Jan Klingele, Managing Partner at Klingele Paper and Packaging Group, as the Association’s 2020-2021 chairman during their Board of Directors Meeting held by conference call on Thursday, May 28, 2020.

Join Dr. Brian George of Thomas Jefferson University on June 10th, as he discusses sustainability enhancements in the nonwovens field. Register now or learn more here.

Attend TAPPI’s Women in Industry (WIN) Division’s first Virtual Women’s Summit to discover keys to effective self-awareness during a crisis. Learn how you can make a world of difference in your community. This is a free event open to anyone who wants to join the conversation. Reserve your seat today.

Get it While it’s Hot!

Over the next several weeks, TAPPI shines the spotlight on colleagues who, before the pandemic, would have been recognized at PaperCon 2020. 

TAPPI honors TAPPI Fellow, member, and extraordinary technical contributor, John L. Clement.

MiniFIBERS is proud to announce T. Scott Frasca as Technical Sales Representative. He will be solving customers’ technical needs in the papermaking, wetlaid nonwovens, and specialty applications markets.