Some Mills Switched to Making Brown Tissue Grades for AfH Market in 2019

Soundview Paper's northern New Jersey recycled-content mill might serve a specific region, yet its recent transition to also producing brown toweling for the commercial Away-from-Home (AfH) tissue business using recovered paper grades is a shift seen among a few tissue mills across the US in 2019. While some large tissue producers told Megan Workman of Fastmarkets RISI's PPI Pulp & Paper Week that they do not have plans to increase their brown tissue production for AfH, several others already have made the move.

This shift to producing recycled brown toweling for the AfH market varies based on the mill, its costs, and product specifications. Still, contacts said the low pricing of some recovered fiber grades, especially old corrugated containers (OCC) and mixed paper, plays a role. Additionally, with a demand decline in 2019, OCC and mixed paper supply have been landfilled this year.

"If it's pure cost structure, and it's a recycled mill, then it's OCC and mixed paper driven," one contact said. "People aren't trying to move to dark brown out of the gate; they are going to a mocha (for) this towel/napkin."

Examples of mocha, or beige-colored, napkins are at McDonald's and Starbucks. In 2012, North America's fourth largest producer of towel and tissue paper, Cascades Tissue Group, launched its 100% recycled unbleached bathroom tissue line, Moka, a first-of-its-kind product for the AfH market at the time that is beige in appearance.

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