Recycled paper business booming

LONGVIEW — For retailers, the "100 percent recycled" label on a product is a badge of honor declaring civic responsibility. For consumers, it's a status symbol showing environmental awareness.

For manufacturers, such as Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, the label can be a gold mine.

Sales of the company's newest lightweight kraft paper, the environmentally friendly FibreGreen, have been growing since it hit the market in March, Fibre marketing director Matt Elhardt said.

After shedding 40 percent of its work force beginning in late 2007, Fibre's sales have quickened this year, largely because of a jump in orders for container board used to manufacture boxes. The company has added about 40 jobs since last spring and now employs about 1,040.

The company hopes FibreGreen, which is made entirely with recycled paper and is used for grocery bags and fast-food sacks, will help it grow.

Recycled paper is often relatively thin and weak, but Fibre developed technology to maintain quality in tests, Elhardt said.

Fibre obtains 40 percent of the material used to make FibreGreen from paper recycled by consumers. Most of the rest comes from paper products rejected by the mill.

This spring, Texas-based Whole Foods Market became the first grocery retailer nationwide to switch to 100-percent-recycled bags. Starbucks is pushing to increase its recycled packaging, as is the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart.