Resources
RPTA provides its members with a vast array of resources from educational programs and whitepapers to training modules.
Publications
RPTA has produced a variety of bulletins and manuals covering a broad range of topics from boilouts to metal in board. These publications are used for educating customers and/or for teaching aids for new hires or those new to the industry.
We have also developed Computer Based Training Modules covering the different aspects of papermaking from stock preparation to coating. These serve as great training aids for new hires or those new to the industry.
Seminars
RPTA holds various seminars and roundtable discussions designed to keep membership informed of new or improved operating practices, new technology or products from vendors or to address problem solving issues common to most members like safety, threading practices, furnish, stock cleaning, etc.
Task Forces
RPTA sets up and facilitates meetings where focused groups by discipline meet regularly to discuss new or developmental products, processes, or technology and to discuss issues common to the membership. One currently in operation is the Product Stewardship and Environmental Task Force.
Comprehensive Program for Food Contact Paperboard
Under the authority of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations allow the use of pulp from reclaimed fiber in food packaging. These regulations recognize that the sources of reclaimed fiber may be either "industrial waste from the manufacture of paper and paperboard" or "salvage from used paper and paperboard..." In both cases, the regulations stipulate that the material may not bear or contain "any poisonous or deleterious substance... that migrates to the food except as provided in the regulations..."
In 1999, the Recycled Paperboard Technical Association (RPTA) and the American Forest & Paper Association jointly published "A Guidance for Industry on The Use of Pulp from Reclaimed Fiber as a Component of Paper and Paperboard Products for Food Packaging under 21 C.F.R. 176.260." The Guidance identified steps appropriate to ensure compliance with FDA requirements. To complement the Guidance, RPTA issued the first edition of its Chemical Testing Protocol for Food Contact Paperboard Made from Recycled Fiber (RPTA Protocol) as a tool to help manufacturers of recycled paper and paperboard identify substances in recycled paperboard and determine the regulatory status of those substances.
Since then, the RPTA Protocol has evolved into the Comprehensive Program for Food-Contact Paperboard Produced From Recycled Fiber to ensure that recycled paperboard can be the first choice for food packaging. Because of this Comprehensive Program, consumers can have full confidence that the food contained within this packaging is safe to consume.
LATEST NEWS
Industry Benchmarking Survey
The 2025 Profile Study will be initiated this December for first-quarter ’25 sampling. Past Survey reports can be accessed at this member-only page.
2024 Fall Roundtable
On October 16 and 17, we held our highly-rated RPTA Fall Roundtable on Paper Machine Roll Design and Operation, in Appleton, Wisconsin. The slides from our four-hour technical seminar on various types of rolls and press optimization are available at this RPTA members only site, along with materials from other past RPTA educational events. The Roundtable also included tours of two Andritz roll facilities.
UPCOMING EVENTS
2025 Winter Webinar
On January 22nd, we will hold a webinar on Recovered Fiber Grades & Quality. Shawn State, President of Pratt Recycling at Pratt Industries, will discuss recovered fiber grades and quality trends. He will be followed by Pat McEnroe, Product Group Director at Kadant Black Clawson, who will discuss process strategies to deal with contaminants in recovered fiber sources.
2025 Production-Technical Seminar
The event is May 4-7, 2025, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
This year, the RPTA Seminar will be more integrated with the TAPPICon Conference. RPTA members will register through RPTA and your registration will include all TAPPICon sessions and events, at a substantial savings over past years’ registration fees.
RPTA will still recruit presentations on topics of current interest to our members: Safer Operations, Product Strength Improvement Methods; and Waste Reduction. In addition, RPTA will host a two-hour mini-course on paper machine wet end chemistry, provided by a well-respected expert.