NEWSPAPER RECYCLING ON RISE

Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau is recycling and customers are reaping the benefits.

The publishing company has joined a growing list of newspaper chains that have added "paper balers" to their operations.

The new baler, in the commercial press and warehouse building at 500 William, is capable of baling old newspapers into 1,300-pound bales.

"We ship the bales to a St. Louis recycling center," said John Renaud, production manager.

The sale of the old newspapers -- about $60 a ton -- is just one small way of helping offset large increases in newsprint costs this year.

"The price of newsprint over the past year is almost unbelievable," Renaud said. "From March 1 of 1994 to projected costs effective March 1 of 1995, newsprint costs have increased 46 percent."

"People in the industry are beginning to call newsprint `white gold,'" said Wally Lage, chief operating officer for Rust Communications. "Newsprint is the second largest operating expense for a newspaper, second only to payroll.

"We have no choice but to eventually pass on these increases to our customers," Lage said. "But, we're being as patient as we can."

Rust Communications, which includes five daily newspapers and 18 weeklies in Southeast Missouri and Northern Arkansas, uses more than 4,500 tons of newsprint a year, with more than 50 percent of that use at the Cape Girardeau plant, Renaud said.

According to a state statute, Missouri newspapers with circulations of 15,000 or more must now use 20 percent recycled newsprint. Next year that number goes to 30 percent.

Much attention has been placed on newspapers in the waste stream in recent years because of their high visibility. While lawmakers and the public in general believed waste newsprint was filling up landfills, in reality old newspapers occupy only about 4.5 percent of landfill space.

Many states, including Missouri, have mandated recycled newsprint usage, while newspapers in many states have volunteer programs.

Legislation mandating recycled newspaper use is intact in a dozen states and the Washington, D.C., area. A total of 20 states have volunteer programs, leaving only 18 without legislation or voluntary agreements. In a number of those states, volunteer efforts are being discussed.

According to guidelines set forth in legislation in Missouri, the targeted recycled content usage schedule calls for use of recycled newsprint 20 percent in 1994, 30 percent in 1995, 40 percent in 1996 and 50 percent by the year 2000.

Missouri newspapers reached their 1993 goal, and Rust Communications is on target for 1994, Renaud said.

The rate of collection and recycling of old newspaper continues to rise. In 1993, almost 60 percent of all newspapers were recycled, according to statistics provided by the American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA).

Last year, a record 7.4 million tons of old newspapers were collected for recycling. This is a collection rate of 58 percent of the total newsprint supply of 12.7 million tons, according to AFPA.

The 7.4 million tons figure was more than double the just-under 3.5 million tons collected a decade earlier, in 1983. The 58 percent recovery rate is one of the highest recycling rates of any major commodity.

Newspapers' recycling performance has grown steadily since the early 1980s. In 1985, about 3.8 million tons of old newspapers were recovered. That amount grew to 4.2 million tons in 1986, 4.8 million in 1988, and passed the 5-million-ton mark in 1989.

Newspapers are highly recyclable and can be manufactured back into newsprint as well as a variety of other products.

However, recycling newspaper back into newsprint has limits.

The recycling process shortens paper fibers, said an AFPA spokesman. A newspaper cannot be endlessly recycled because the fibers become too short to use.

According to the AFPA, 33.7 percent of recycled newspapers are used for newsprint, with 21.6 percent for paperboard. Other uses for the recycled newspapers include packaging, animal bedding, container and liner board and writing paper.

The successful recycling of old newspapers has helped ease the nation's landfill crunch. In the mid-1980s, newspapers used an estimated 8 percent of landfill space, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By 1990, that figure had dwindled to 4.5 percent.

California was one of the first states to mandate recycled newsprint, in 1991. Publishers there are required to ensure 25 percent of their product is made of recycled newsprint. By the year 2000, recycled use must be at 50 percent.

In Illinois, newspapers are in the third year of a state-directed program, called the Recycling Use Act.

Newspapers are required to report their recycled content on an annual basis. Goals were to attain a 25 percent industrywide aggregate for recycled content usage by 1993, and 28 percent in 1994. Newspapers in Illinois have exceeded that goal, reaching 34 percent.

Kentucky has no pending legislation for newspapers, but the Kentucky Press Association has worked out a voluntary recycling schedule.

The voluntary schedule calls for a 20 percent use of recycled newsprint by 1996, 30 percent by 1998, 40 percent in the year 2000.

Kentucky figures show that 47.1 percent of newsprint used in the state in 1993 was recycled newsprint.

In Arkansas, newspapers have convinced the legislature not to mandate use of recycled newsprint. Instead, a recycling advisory committee has been established to advise the legislature on the use of recycled products.