this is good news that paper packaging industry&rsquos environmental council ppec has achieved a major step forward by convincing the liquor control board of ontario lcbo to modify its shipping rules for liquor and wine boxes..effective instantly, the lcbo will permit its suppliers the choice of the edge crush test ect to use as a substitute to the burst strength or mullen test which it has used for above 20 years to evaluate the performance of delivery of corrugated packaging. john mullinder, who is an executive director at ppec, mentions that this decision is long overdue, and opens the gate to manufacturers of recycled board, which is the main canadian and international grade, and becoming more so. he further said that the mullen test unfairly dispirits the use of recycled board. in recent years, the canadian industry of paper packaging had become ever more concerned over the lcbo&rsquos dependence on the mullen test, particularly when the regional liquor and wine monopoly had started imposing fines to suppliers for their incapability to meet its mullen specifications. mullinder mentioned that as per his knowledge, the lcbo was the only major liquor and wine retailer in the world who is still using the mullen test as an indicator for container breakage andor box failure. all else had moved to ect. two years ago, ppec had set up a technical committee and begin overreach to the lcbo, visited its retail distribution centre in durham county to identify the conditions the wine and liquor boxes had to perform under, and inviting lcbo personnel to visit various paper facilities a corrugated converting plant, industry testing laboratory and recycling mill. the council started some pilot laboratory experiments using the commonly accepted standards of the international safe transit association, which is known as ista. various types of glass bottles and boxes were dropped, shaken, and slammed into tough surfaces to see how they performed. 4minute footage was produced rattle, drop and shake and the outcome shared with lcbo staff. mullinder said that their relationship with the lcbo has been extremely good and not confrontational at all. they have worked through the issues, and he thinks that they can both be gratified with the results to date. he further said that they recognize that this gate to ect would not have been unlocked without ppec&rsquos initiatives, and without the strong technical support they received from member companies. source of information httpwww.pulpandpapercanada.comnewsdecisionopensdoorforrecycledboardinliquor…
