Closing the Loop in Western Canada

Allied Paper Savers Inc., an operating division of Can-Cell Industries Inc., is located in Edmonton, Alberta. Allied Paper is one of the largest privately-owned fiber recycling and processing facilities in Western Canada.

Over the past 30 years, Allied has been sourcing and purchasing fiber from recyclers across Western Canada. More than 50,000 metric tons of fiber material is processed each year in their facility. About half of all the material processed is recycled newsprint, which is cleaned of contaminants and used as the base material in manufacturing cellulose insulation products at their Can-Cell Industries manufacturing plant.

Can-Cell Industries' insulation products are sold under the trade names of "Weathershield" and "WallBar". They also make other paper-based products such as "Fibramulch" which is used as a base for planting grass and soil stabilization.

Creating high-quality insulation products is dependent on using premium quality, clean newspaper.

Unfortunately, as communities continue to introduce single stream, blue bag and curbside collection services, clean newsprint is becoming harder to obtain. When you allow plastic, glass and tin to be mixed in with fiber, the paper becomes extremely contaminated. Lower grades of recycled product are being produced from these programs which dramatically affect the end usage and recovery.

Convenience does not always equate with the reality of the end product being produced. The old saying 'garbage in, garbage out' is unfortunately very true when it comes to recycled paper.

Even with the higher quality newsprint Allied does purchase, a final sort must be performed at their facility to ensure all contaminants are removed before supplying the final product for the manufacturing process.

Can-Cell Industries and Allied Paper are proud to be part of the solution by using recycled material in their manufacturing process. They employ more than 45 full time positions in their manufacturing plants and have sales offices throughout Western Canada.

For more information, visit www.alliedpapersavers.com and www.can-cell.com.

(Source: May 2010 WasteWatch)

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