Paper Technology International 2023 - Foreword - Paper Technology International 2023 - Flipbook - Page 11

Paper Technology International 2023 - Foreword

Paper Technology International 2023
Foreword
Innovative, naturally
“The White Paper Revolution”, people demonstrating with
clean sheets of paper after the devastating fire in Urumqi, the
capital city of the Xinjiang, PRC, is a recent reminder of the power
of paper as a natural substrate for ideas, thoughts, and innovations.
Behind every societal change is paper!
Nearly six centuries ago, paper was essential for literacy
spreading across the entire population of Europe and soon the
rest of the world. That triggered enormous advances in science
and, in turn, enabled industrialisation, which functioned because
more sophisticated trade was made possible with paper-based
packaging. Accounting and finance developed with paper, as well
as journalism and media. Digitalisation has come to complement,
and compete with paper, but computers would not have evolved
without punch cards to start with. Books are still today considered
so powerful that the authorities in Russia recently considered it
safer to burn more than 50 titles. Paper is innovative and very
capable.
We have also been innovative with our processes. Even if
the key equipment of a paper mill has not changed so much from
the mills supplying to Gutenberg, size, speed, and digitalisation has
resulted in amazing technology; I have yet to meet a person who is
not impressed by seeing a paper machine in operation. Recycling
technology has also evolved hugely in the past decades, to enable
utilisation of recycled content in practically everything we produce,
wherever it makes sense.
Even in the early days, the industry was practicing Circular
Economy, avant la lettre; paper was then made from old textiles, and the expression “from rags to riches”
is from the early 19th century, when those selling rags for paper mills could make serious money. We did
not forget Circular Economy, but a more sustainable raw material was found in wood. That invention was
actually mimicking nature, observing how wasps produce paper-like structures by grinding wood.
Biomimicry, biotechnology, biomanufacturing and recycling most likely will remain core to our
industry, as well as working with renewable raw materials. I also trust the traditional pulp, paper and board
sectors will continue to grow, as these very products will have a major role to play in making the global
sustainability ambition a reality, an innovative, but mature, industry with strong roots.
Often it is easier to see the importance of an innovation only much later. Now smart phones seem
essential parts of the global lifestyle, but the first ever text message was sent between two nerds only thirty
years ago. In thirty years, we will be living, working and producing in a nearly carbon neutral world. And
what today may seem like a nerdy stupid gimmick may by then have grown to a new significance. I like to
believe that some of that will take place in our sector.
It is great for Cepi to be working in partnership with Paper Technology International towards that
common goal.
Jori Ringman
Director General
Cepi.org
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