In a victory for Norpac — and potential blow to local newspapers — the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that it will start imposing preliminary antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian paper producers. The move comes in response to a petition filed in August in which the Longview papermaker alleged that Canadian paper manufacturers hold an unfair advantage over domestic producers. Norpac claimed that Canadian paper companies benefit from 65 different subsidies that add up to hundreds of millions of dollars. The federal and provincial subsidies include government grants, tax breaks, subsidized loans, raw materials at below-market costs and cheap subsidized electricity, according to Norpac. A Commerce investigation found that Canadian uncoated groundwood paper — the same product used to print newspapers — was subsidized by an average of 6.53 percent, Norpac said Tuesday. Click Read More below for additional information.

Appvion Operations, Inc., is launching a line of innovative packaging products under its new MISSION ZERO™ portfolio of sustainable products. MISSION ZERO™ is the umbrella brand for Appvion's newly engineered products to enhance sustainable packaging design by providing functional materials and systems that are addressing key issues of sustainability and recyclability. The MISSION ZERO™ products are designed to enable transformation, innovation, and optimization in the paper packaging value chain, and provide for a closed loop system and circular economy for consumer packaging, food service, industrial packaging and communication papers. "First in line under MISSON ZERO™ will be an innovative recyclable cup stock for hot and cold beverages that meets widely recognized industry standards for sustainable packaging in food and beverage , most notably the use of renewable, recyclable and responsibly sourced materials." said Jorg Schneewind, President of Appvion Packaging and Specialty Coatings.

UPM Plywood starts using a new sustainable lignin based WISA BioBond gluing technology in plywood manufacturing. In the new technology 50% of the fossil-based phenol has been replaced with lignin obtained as a by product of kraf pulp production. "Our long term goal has been to develop a gluing technology that utilizes lignin as raw material. The technological breakthrough that now has been achieved is the most significant innovation in plywood gluing in five decades" says Susanna Rinne, Vice President, Business Development at UPM Plywood. UPM Plywood plans to take the new gluing technology into use gradually in all of its plywood mills. Click Read More below for additional detail.