Australian Paper Manufacturers

Australian Paper Manufacturers

Before 1987, the Australian paper industry was divided into three companies. Australian Newsprint Mills supplied newsprint, Australian Paper Manufacturers produced paperboard, and Paper Company of Australia produced coated and uncoated fine-papers. All three of those companies were subsidiaries of major Australian corporations. Maitland sales, which owned Paper Company of Australia (PCA), recorded $495 million in net sales. Amcor Limited, which owned Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM), grossed $2.4 billion in net sales. APM decided to enter another aspect of the paper industry and dive into uncoated fine papers. They figured that they could draw on their strength in paperboard manufacturing.

The making of fine paper or paper in general requires close attention to detail. The first step in making paper requires the wood to be pulped. This process refined the wood so that only the fibers remained. During pulping, the cellulose fibers were separated from the other components so it could be processed further. This process can be done in two different ways, mechanically or chemically. The chemical process produces much sturdier pulp, but unlike mechanical pulping, which uses 90-95% of the wood, chemical pulping uses 45-50%. Chemical pulping is also the least environmentally friendly of the two. When the fibers are made into fine paper, it goes through an immediate step called bleaching, where as chlorine gas and chlorine dioxide are applied to the pulp. After bleaching, chemicals such as, rosin, aluminum sulphate, or synthetics to reduce absorbency for writing papers.

The annual consumption of fine paper in Australia rose to nearly 358,000 tonnes in 1987. Uncoated fine paper, such as photocopy paper, stationary, and offset printing paper, comprised 52% of that market, while coated fine paper, the type used in an annual report, comprised of the rest.

When chemical pulp was bleached, about 10% of the chlorine used combined with organic molecules from the wood, which was discharged from the mill. Bleaching produced as many as 1,000 toxic chlorine compounds called organochlorines. Pulp mills discharged between five and eight kilograms of organochlorines per tonne of bleached pulp. Due to the fact that pulping requires large amounts of water to flush chemicals from the pulp, companies set up near rivers, lakes, and oceans. The discharge from these plants ran directly into these bodies of water. The most notorious organochlorine is called dioxin, under the name Agent Orange; dioxin was used heavily in the Vietnam War to remove ground growth. Dioxin has also been found to cause reproductive disorders in animals and suppress their immune systems, leaving them more susceptible to infection. Fish that were found off of the coast of Sweden suffered reproductive and liver damage, skeletal abnormalities in offspring, and impaired immune systems. All of these systems are attributable to organochlorines released by paper companies. A report on the United States paper industry was published by Greenpeace that leaked documents from the United States Environmental Protection Agency that said dioxin could actually be found in products such as napkins and milk cartons.

Environmental Concerns extended beyond fears of dioxin to the issues of deforestation and recycling. Four tonnes of wood produced one tonne of paper, and the production of one tonne of paper from the discarded waste paper, when compared to the production from virgin wood, used half as much energy and water. It created 74% less air pollution, 355 less water pollution, and saved the 17 pulp trees which would have been used. To become more environmentally friendly, companies had to commit themselves to regrowth programs: five eucalyptus trees planted for every one harvested, five pine trees for every four harvested.

. In 1984, APM completed