Beyond Pulp

Advances in technology have brought new products into the paper market, giving you more choices than ever.

Today's market is flooded with numerous grades and types of papers. Some work better with digital printing equipment, some with offset presses. Many of these new products are produced using little or no natural fibers.

Along with changes in the way synthetic and recycled grades are produced come changes in the way paper has to be handled. This brings new challenges to the in-plant manager.

Synthetic Grades

One factor to consider is the durability of the paper you select. According to Michael Cafiero, national marketing manager for Yupo, folding endurance tests have shown that Yupo's synthetic grades of paper—made of polypropylene plastic and other "inorganic fillers"—are up to 10 times more durable then a natural-based paper.

"Any type of application where there will be a lot of wear and tear and exposure is where our product performs the best," says Cafiero.

Synthetic paper grades also have different drying qualities than natural based papers, since there are no absorption characteristics. Inks dry through 100 percent oxidation. Water-based inks cannot be used with Yupo's products, Cafiero notes, adding that most major ink manufacturers have designed inks to use with synthetic grades.

"You have to watch your inks, your solutions, and have to try to use as little water as possible with the plates," Cafiero explains. "Besides that it is run pretty much the same as [pulp-based] paper."

One downfall of synthetic grades is that many cannot be used in the office environment (i.e. with ink-jet printers, laser printers or copiers) due to a low melting temperature.

"It's the heating element in the laser [printers] and copiers. Our melting point is 200 degrees fahrenheit and they run at about 400 degrees," Cafiero says.

On the upside, Yupo's papers never have to be laminated, and are recyclable. Cafiero also says that printed work takes on a special quality when using synthetic grades.

"One of the nice things about our product is that the reproduction characteristics are tremendous," he says. "Your embossing and foil stamping really jump out. It makes our paper look that much better."

Transilwrap also offers a thin-gauge synthetic paper with its MXM line of mineral-filled polypropylene papers. Arianne Heller, new business development representative, says this line has the texture of white offset paper, yet resists water, chemicals and tearing. She calls it "the missing link between paper and plastic."

"It handles like plastic and does a lot of the things that plastic does, yet it prints more like paper than anything else we've seen," Heller says.

Opaque Papers

Another alternative is high-opacity paper, which uses opacifying fillers to increase opacity without increasing the basis weight. For example, a traditional 20-lb. copier bond has an opacity of 87, while a "high-opaque" version has an opacity of 93, higher than 24-lb. bond. This is done to prevent show-through without raising the basis weight.

Today, these papers are popular in the digital print market, says Bob Hieronymus, marketing manager for Georgia-Pacific Imaging Papers. Publishers want to print short runs of books and manuals without the bulk.

For shops that combine offset and digital printing, Georgia-Pacific has created Quantum Digital Opaque, which is designed to run on both digital and traditional offset equipment.

"Having an opaque sheet that works well on both digital and offset technologies prevents the print shop from having to purchase two different papers," Hieronymus points out.

Recycled Reams

Keeping the environment in mind when ordering paper is important. It's even mandated by some organizations. But how does recycled paper stand up compared to other grades? According to Kelly Barron, marketing services manager with Crown Vantage Printing and Publishing Papers, that all depends on the applications.

"One hundred percent recycled in some cases prints just as well as a virgin fiber sheet," Barron contends. "It depends on what you are doing to it. Is it an eight-color job or two-colors with mostly line type?"

Crown Vantage offers uncoated text and cover papers, as well as cast coated, writing, opaque, offset and bond papers. The majority are recycled, with post-consumer waste content ranging from 20 to 60 percent.

Robert Mettee, manager of the Boy Scouts of America in-plant, in Irving, Texas, says his shop uses a large amount of recycled paper.

"We try to use as much recycled as we can," stresses Mettee. "Our standard papers we keep on hand are all recycled."

Although Mettee's shop tries to help the environment by using recycled paper, sometimes cost restraints and other factors have made it necessary to use non-recycled grades. One area where Mettee has found recycled grades to be sub-par is with his high-speed copiers.

"In our high-speed copiers, it jams up a lot," Mettee admits.

Pondering Prices?

It always comes to this topic eventually—what about price? Yupo's Cafiero admits that the initial cost of synthetic paper is higher, but maintains that the cost is offset in other ways.

"We look at the overall cost," he reveals. "For a paper to perform like our product, you are going to need to do extra converting. Once you get a paper product comparable to us, we are probably cheaper, but the up-front cost, we are more expensive."

The same thing goes for high-opacity grades of paper.

"Printers should expect to pay a little bit more for opaque papers due to the high cost of the opacifying fillers, which is usually titanium dioxide," says G-P's Hieronymus.

But he adds that the lower basis weights will result in lower postage costs. One G-P customer, he reports, found a postage savings of $2,000 per ton of opaque paper purchased.

Opaque papers also cut down on the thickness of jobs, such as books and manuals, which can bring down costs on binding or other finishing techniques. Opacifying fillers have a high brightness level, as well, giving these papers a dual advantage.

"To take advantage of [opaque papers], printers and their customers should look not at the cost of the paper," Hieronymus says, "but at the total cost of the printed solution."

Quick Look

• Synthetic papers require special inks and different processing techniques than natural-based papers.

• Tests have reportedly found synthetic papers to be up to 10 times more durable than natural-based grades.

• Printers and copiers that run at high temperatures are off-limits to some synthetic grades.

• High-opacity papers prevent show-through without raising the basis weight.

• Specialty papers often cost more up front but can save money in the long run.