Calvin S. Frost--At times our business can be very confusing. Suffice it to say that over the past 30 years our companies have been involved with "recycling" in one way or another. Since forming Channeled Resources, Inc. and Maratech International, our customers and suppliers have encouraged us to purchase and sell products that have pushed us further and further from our original concepts and business plan. The original concept was to build a business around traditional recycling. However, our business is far different today, almost thirty years later. Indeed, when I saw Patricia Dunwoody’s illustration of the "Use of the Whole Tree" I was reminded of what we do. Look, virtually every part of the tree can be used for some application in industry - sap and gums, leaves and needles, etc. At Channeled Resources we find ourselves in the same situation. We reuse virtually every part of paper and filmic substrates that are silicone coated or adhesive laminated, regardless of whether it is obsolete, defective, sized improperly, etc. You can see that every size, shape, configuration or product, or condition of product, is processed through our plant. Our job is to find applications for these misfits first, and then secondly, develop salvage techniques that allow us to market the product. Therefore, every day brings a new problem and solution. The excitement begins with discovering the unknown or what we will be faced with that day. We never know what we will receive or how we will have to recover it. Obviously, you have to be practical and this is why we concentrate and focus on silicone coated release liners and roll label pressure sensitive adhesives. My presentation explains this activity which is really the recycling of non recyclables. I plan to discuss recycling, silicone coating in particular, and a host of applications where our products can be used successfully. First of all, what does recycle mean? It is a verb that obviously connotes action, and is defined - to pass through or undergo again, as for further treatment, changes, use, etc. Interestingly enough, while the collection of recyclables is not new, the use of this word is new. Most of us misuse the word recycle . When we sort, collect, and process paper, plastic, glass and metal, we are not recycling. We are merely collecting and sorting. When we pulp, re-melt, regrind, then we are recycling, putting through the manufacturing process for use as a new material, etc. That’s recycling. Indeed, that is what we call traditional recycling. When we talk about the collection and eventual re-pulping of silicone coated liners, we’re talking about traditional recycling. The liner is mechanically beaten or stirred in a hydro-pulper, the silicone coating skimmed off and dispersed, and the resulting fiber is reclaimed as raw material and used to make paper or tissue. That’s traditional recycling. We use the term non-traditional recycling we refer to processing a non-repulpable products such as adhesive laminated paper or films, or a poly coated silicone coated liner, and putting it into a form so it can be .....
Alternative to Repulping Silicone Coated Release Liners, 2000 Recycling Symposium Proceedings