NOTIFICATION: The Technology Channels will soon be discontinued.
Click here to download complimentary copies of Fastmarkets RISI’s pulp and paper newsletters.

Bio-Insight

FORT MILL, SC, Aug. 27, 2020 (Press Release) -In both the Pulp & Paper and Personal Care divisions, we have made progress on the sustainability goals outlined in 2019. Domtar sustainability efforts targeted three focus areas: responsibility across our supply chain, including sustainable forestry principles to ensure the health of forestlands; efficiency in our manufacturing to minimize the negative environmental effects of our operations; and engagement with a variety of stakeholders.

Domtar Sustainability Update

We achieved two of our six major goals: We reduced our total direct greenhouse gas emissions and indirect emissions from purchased energy by 19 percent at our pulp and paper mills, compared to our goal of a 15 percent reduction from 2010 levels. We also completed development of a water usage model for our mills to measure and more strategically manage the full cost of using water.

In addition, we have nearly achieved two other Domtar sustainability goals that center on certified fiber procurement and employee engagement (as measured by establishing EarthChoice Ambassador teams at each of our facilities).

Finally, we are actively working toward achieving our final two Domtar sustainability goals — targeting a 0.50 recordable safety incident rate and ensuring a 40 percent reduction in waste to landfill from pulp and paper mills.

“We have continued our progress in several areas in the past year,” says Paige Goff, vice president of sustainability. “In a few areas, we have encountered new challenges related to downtime at our mills or the business climate of our suppliers or customers. Despite these hurdles, our commitment is strong, and our performance in most areas is moving in the right direction.”

Domtar sustainability highlights from our Pulp & Paper division include the following:

We met 34 percent of our fiber needs with certified wood in 2019, including 18 percent from Forest Stewardship Council®-certified sources.
We beneficially reused 67 percent of our pulp and paper manufacturing byproducts, compared to an industry average of 46 percent.
We self-generated 67 percent of the electricity used in our pulp and paper mills, compared with an industry average of 55 percent.
We used 10 percent less water at our mills (from 2015 baseline).

Domtar sustainability highlights in Personal Care include the following:

We beneficially reused or recycled 83 percent of our manufacturing byproducts.
We reduced by 30 percent our direct greenhouse gas and indirect emissions from purchased energy since 2015.

In addition to our sustainability progress, we’re proud of our ongoing investments in our communities, totaling $2.9 million and more than 13,650 hours of volunteer work by our employees.

Since 2012, we have donated 413,000 books to under-resourced teachers and underprivileged students through our collaboration with First Book, and since 2016, we have given more than 4.1 million diapers to families in need through our Comfort and Care program.

Domtar provides sustainability update for 2020 and beyond

Posted in: Bio-Insight 08/28/2020 - 09:03

FORT MILL, SC, Aug. 27, 2020 (Press Release) -In both the Pulp & Paper and Personal Care divisions, we have made progress on the sustainability goals outlined in 2019. Domtar sustainability efforts targeted three focus areas: responsibility across our supply chain, including sustainable forestry principles to ensure the health of forestlands; efficiency in our manufacturing to minimize the negative environmental effects of our operations; and engagement with a variety of stakeholders.

Domtar Sustainability Update

We achieved two of our six major goals: We reduced our total direct greenhouse gas emissions and indirect emissions from purchased energy by 19 percent at our pulp and paper mills, compared to our goal of a 15 percent reduction from 2010 levels. We also completed development of a water usage model for our mills to measure and more strategically manage the full cost of using water.

In addition, we have nearly achieved two other Domtar sustainability goals that center on certified fiber procurement and employee engagement (as measured by establishing EarthChoice Ambassador teams at each of our facilities).

Finally, we are actively working toward achieving our final two Domtar sustainability goals — targeting a 0.50 recordable safety incident rate and ensuring a 40 percent reduction in waste to landfill from pulp and paper mills.

“We have continued our progress in several areas in the past year,” says Paige Goff, vice president of sustainability. “In a few areas, we have encountered new challenges related to downtime at our mills or the business climate of our suppliers or customers. Despite these hurdles, our commitment is strong, and our performance in most areas is moving in the right direction.”

Domtar sustainability highlights from our Pulp & Paper division include the following:

We met 34 percent of our fiber needs with certified wood in 2019, including 18 percent from Forest Stewardship Council®-certified sources.
We beneficially reused 67 percent of our pulp and paper manufacturing byproducts, compared to an industry average of 46 percent.
We self-generated 67 percent of the electricity used in our pulp and paper mills, compared with an industry average of 55 percent.
We used 10 percent less water at our mills (from 2015 baseline).

Domtar sustainability highlights in Personal Care include the following:

We beneficially reused or recycled 83 percent of our manufacturing byproducts.
We reduced by 30 percent our direct greenhouse gas and indirect emissions from purchased energy since 2015.

In addition to our sustainability progress, we’re proud of our ongoing investments in our communities, totaling $2.9 million and more than 13,650 hours of volunteer work by our employees.

Since 2012, we have donated 413,000 books to under-resourced teachers and underprivileged students through our collaboration with First Book, and since 2016, we have given more than 4.1 million diapers to families in need through our Comfort and Care program.

GMUND AM TEGERNSEE, Germany, Aug. 19, 2020 (Press Release) -It has always been of utmost priority for Gmund to manufacture their papers environmental-friendly. For example, thanks to an ozone purification facility, Gmund Paper reduced its water consumption in paper production by 70% during the past several decades. And Gmund uses water power, solar energy and heat-and-power coupling to generate up to 75% of the energy it needs.

The Gmund Used collection reaffirms and continues this commitment to sustainability. Gmund Used is made out of 100% recovered paper. This paper combines two materials: 80% high-quality DIP which is FSC certified and 20% secondary packaging materials manufactured in Gmund, which are subsequently collected and separated according to the type of material. This closed-circuit transforms used paper from being waste to becoming a high-quality design paper by Gmund. Gmund Used stands for optimal quality with maximal fiber utilization and convinces in its bright and vibrant colors. The high strength of these papers makes them particularly well suited for packaging projects. And the Gmund Eco Certificate logo guarantees that the production process is designed to conserve natural resources.

The Gmund Used collection meets all demands and requirements to be the paper of the future.

Gmund Used at a glance:

10 new bright colors
Surface: matte
Available weights: 300g/m² in 70 x 100 cm LG
Additional formats and grammages are possible from a MOQ of 3 tons
Suitable for all applications and all printing techniques
Gmund Eco Certificate, FSC-certified (FSC-C006462)

About Gmund Paper

Headquartered at Lake Tegernsee, Gmund Paper is Europe’s most modern factory for design papers. The manufacturing and environmental technologies work on the highest level. Custom-tailored solutions for sustainable brand presences are created here. The assortment includes over 100,000 different paper variants. Circa 75% of the papers are exported. Gmund Paper delivers its products to a total of 70 countries on all continents. A family-owned business, Gmund Paper is presently directed by fourth-generation papermaker Florian Kohler.

Gmund Paper introduces Used collection made from 100% recovered paper

Posted in: Bio-Insight 08/19/2020 - 04:40

GMUND AM TEGERNSEE, Germany, Aug. 19, 2020 (Press Release) -It has always been of utmost priority for Gmund to manufacture their papers environmental-friendly. For example, thanks to an ozone purification facility, Gmund Paper reduced its water consumption in paper production by 70% during the past several decades. And Gmund uses water power, solar energy and heat-and-power coupling to generate up to 75% of the energy it needs.

The Gmund Used collection reaffirms and continues this commitment to sustainability. Gmund Used is made out of 100% recovered paper. This paper combines two materials: 80% high-quality DIP which is FSC certified and 20% secondary packaging materials manufactured in Gmund, which are subsequently collected and separated according to the type of material. This closed-circuit transforms used paper from being waste to becoming a high-quality design paper by Gmund. Gmund Used stands for optimal quality with maximal fiber utilization and convinces in its bright and vibrant colors. The high strength of these papers makes them particularly well suited for packaging projects. And the Gmund Eco Certificate logo guarantees that the production process is designed to conserve natural resources.

The Gmund Used collection meets all demands and requirements to be the paper of the future.

Gmund Used at a glance:

10 new bright colors
Surface: matte
Available weights: 300g/m² in 70 x 100 cm LG
Additional formats and grammages are possible from a MOQ of 3 tons
Suitable for all applications and all printing techniques
Gmund Eco Certificate, FSC-certified (FSC-C006462)

About Gmund Paper

Headquartered at Lake Tegernsee, Gmund Paper is Europe’s most modern factory for design papers. The manufacturing and environmental technologies work on the highest level. Custom-tailored solutions for sustainable brand presences are created here. The assortment includes over 100,000 different paper variants. Circa 75% of the papers are exported. Gmund Paper delivers its products to a total of 70 countries on all continents. A family-owned business, Gmund Paper is presently directed by fourth-generation papermaker Florian Kohler.

MADRID, Spain, Aug. 13, 2020 (Press Release) -Ence’s biofactory in Navia has received the “Zero Waste” environmental certificate awarded by AENOR to those organizations that carry out a more efficient management of their waste and that are capable of recovering it.

In this way, the Ence plant in Asturias has obtained this recognition that only five companies have in all of Spain, thus adding to the one already granted to the company’s biofactory in Pontevedra last year.

The AENOR certificate certifies that Ence values all its waste fractions, preventing them from going to the landfill as their final destination, and supports its commitment to the circular economy model, while demonstrating its firm commitment to sustainability and environmental care. A commitment that has also been recognized from the international level, with the Nordic Swan ecolabel, the official ecological seal of the Scandinavian governments.

In Ence’s case, the Asturian biofactory recovered practically all of its waste in 2019 (97%). Through its reuse, recycling or energy recovery, the plant not only prevented these materials from ending up in landfills, but also reintroduced them into its value chain, giving them a new life.

The granting of this certificate is part of the circular economy model, as it promotes proper waste management through responsible, efficient and sustainable use of resources.

The activity of Ence’s biofactory itself is an example of contribution to the aforementioned circular economy: throughout the pulp production process, the plant produces and operates with recyclable materials. At the same time, it generates renewable electrical energy from biomass using lignin, a component of wood that constitutes an excellent renewable and natural biofuel.

In this way, the more than 6,000 jobs linked to Ence Navia also contribute, with their daily work, to reduce energy intensity and carbon footprint, as well as to advance on the path of energy transition, towards the objectives of decarbonisation marked from the European Commission.

Ence’s Navia biofactory receives “Zero Waste” environmental certificate from AENOR

Posted in: Bio-Insight 08/17/2020 - 08:21

MADRID, Spain, Aug. 13, 2020 (Press Release) -Ence’s biofactory in Navia has received the “Zero Waste” environmental certificate awarded by AENOR to those organizations that carry out a more efficient management of their waste and that are capable of recovering it.

In this way, the Ence plant in Asturias has obtained this recognition that only five companies have in all of Spain, thus adding to the one already granted to the company’s biofactory in Pontevedra last year.

The AENOR certificate certifies that Ence values all its waste fractions, preventing them from going to the landfill as their final destination, and supports its commitment to the circular economy model, while demonstrating its firm commitment to sustainability and environmental care. A commitment that has also been recognized from the international level, with the Nordic Swan ecolabel, the official ecological seal of the Scandinavian governments.

In Ence’s case, the Asturian biofactory recovered practically all of its waste in 2019 (97%). Through its reuse, recycling or energy recovery, the plant not only prevented these materials from ending up in landfills, but also reintroduced them into its value chain, giving them a new life.

The granting of this certificate is part of the circular economy model, as it promotes proper waste management through responsible, efficient and sustainable use of resources.

The activity of Ence’s biofactory itself is an example of contribution to the aforementioned circular economy: throughout the pulp production process, the plant produces and operates with recyclable materials. At the same time, it generates renewable electrical energy from biomass using lignin, a component of wood that constitutes an excellent renewable and natural biofuel.

In this way, the more than 6,000 jobs linked to Ence Navia also contribute, with their daily work, to reduce energy intensity and carbon footprint, as well as to advance on the path of energy transition, towards the objectives of decarbonisation marked from the European Commission.

HELSINKI, Aug. 12, 2020 (Press Release) -Stefanie Eichiner, Sustainability Manager at UPM Communication Papers, sheds light on how a paper company acts to be a sustainable partner for publishers looking to mitigate climate change. The journey of a paper product starts in the forest, and steps can be taken in each stage of its production to mitigate environmental impacts. UPM Communication Papers is part of UPM Group, which acts for the climate on three different fronts:

climate-positive forestry to create carbon sinks,
innovative products to replace fossil materials with renewable ones, and
efficient reduction of CO2 emissions both in production and in the supply chain.

“To achieve climate positive forestry, the UPM Group plants 50 million tree seedlings every year. We support sustainable forestry practices through forest certification, biodiversity programmes, and supply chain control. In addition, the substitution of fossil resources-based materials with renewable ones increases the carbon capture properties of sustainably managed forests even further, up to 30 percent above what unmanaged forests can capture,” Eichiner explains. “In terms of energy supply, 70% of the energy used at UPM’s paper mills already comes from renewable sources, and we continue to invest significantly in climate-smart and low-emissions energy solutions.”

Indeed, UPM Communication Papers’ energy investments show a clear commitment to a greener future. In the first half of 2020 alone, the company invested €95 million to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant at its German paper mill, UPM Nordland Papier. The plant covers the heat demand of the mill and allows UPM Communication Papers to contribute to the stability of the volatile public power system. At UPM Hürth in Germany, the energy provider E.ON is currently building a €110 million biomass power plant, which will both provide steam to the mill and support the German transition towards renewable energy. Additionally, a long-term wind power purchase agreement made in Finland secures 4 TWh of climate-smart energy to UPM Communication Papers over the next three decades, which represents another visible contribution to the transformation of the European energy system.

“We consider it a social responsibility to set meaningful and ambitious climate targets. We are among the first global forest industry companies who are committed to the UN’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C to take tangible climate actions.”

According to Eichiner, the common denominator for all the company’s climate investments is their focus on long-term value creation. “The paper market is under economic pressure. It is therefore a necessity that all our climate actions create long-term value. By making sure that our climate investments double as long-term business opportunities, we will remain the sustainable partner for the publishing industry,” she concludes.

UPM Communication Papers' sustainability manager Stefanie Eichiner sheds light on how paper company acts to be sustainable partner for publishers

Posted in: Bio-Insight 08/14/2020 - 02:56

HELSINKI, Aug. 12, 2020 (Press Release) -Stefanie Eichiner, Sustainability Manager at UPM Communication Papers, sheds light on how a paper company acts to be a sustainable partner for publishers looking to mitigate climate change. The journey of a paper product starts in the forest, and steps can be taken in each stage of its production to mitigate environmental impacts. UPM Communication Papers is part of UPM Group, which acts for the climate on three different fronts:

climate-positive forestry to create carbon sinks,
innovative products to replace fossil materials with renewable ones, and
efficient reduction of CO2 emissions both in production and in the supply chain.

“To achieve climate positive forestry, the UPM Group plants 50 million tree seedlings every year. We support sustainable forestry practices through forest certification, biodiversity programmes, and supply chain control. In addition, the substitution of fossil resources-based materials with renewable ones increases the carbon capture properties of sustainably managed forests even further, up to 30 percent above what unmanaged forests can capture,” Eichiner explains. “In terms of energy supply, 70% of the energy used at UPM’s paper mills already comes from renewable sources, and we continue to invest significantly in climate-smart and low-emissions energy solutions.”

Indeed, UPM Communication Papers’ energy investments show a clear commitment to a greener future. In the first half of 2020 alone, the company invested €95 million to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant at its German paper mill, UPM Nordland Papier. The plant covers the heat demand of the mill and allows UPM Communication Papers to contribute to the stability of the volatile public power system. At UPM Hürth in Germany, the energy provider E.ON is currently building a €110 million biomass power plant, which will both provide steam to the mill and support the German transition towards renewable energy. Additionally, a long-term wind power purchase agreement made in Finland secures 4 TWh of climate-smart energy to UPM Communication Papers over the next three decades, which represents another visible contribution to the transformation of the European energy system.

“We consider it a social responsibility to set meaningful and ambitious climate targets. We are among the first global forest industry companies who are committed to the UN’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C to take tangible climate actions.”

According to Eichiner, the common denominator for all the company’s climate investments is their focus on long-term value creation. “The paper market is under economic pressure. It is therefore a necessity that all our climate actions create long-term value. By making sure that our climate investments double as long-term business opportunities, we will remain the sustainable partner for the publishing industry,” she concludes.

DUBLIN, Ireland, Aug. 5, 2020 (Press Release) -Smurfit Kappa has today announced it has been chosen to participate in an innovative energy research project on renewable energy storage. The HYFLEXPOWER project will see Smurfit Kappa’s Saillat Paper Mill in France become the first plant in the world to introduce an integrated hydrogen gas turbine demonstrator.

The announcement comes as the European Commission published its ‘Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-Neutral Europe’ report which outlines the essential role that hydrogen will play within the European Green Deal carbon neutrality and energy transition initiative.

The highly innovative research that will take part at the Saillat Mill, which will mainly be funded by the European Commission, aims to prove that hydrogen can be produced and stored from renewable electricity and ultimately replace up to 100 percent of the natural gas currently used by combined heat and power plants.

A key component to reducing the impact of climate change is the global energy sector’s shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption — including oil, natural gas and coal — to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as hydrogen. However, one of the major challenges of the energy transition is the ability to store fluctuating renewable energy.

The purpose of the HYFLEXPOWER is to demonstrate that renewable hydrogen can serve as a flexible means of storing energy which can then be used to power a high-power industrial turbine. The project will mark the implementation of the world's very first industrial-scale power-to-X-to-power* demonstrator with an advanced hydrogen turbine.

The project involves several stakeholders including Engie Solutions, Siemens Gas and Power, Centrax, ARTTIC, German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Universities of Athens (Greece), Lund (Sweden), Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and UCL London (UK). The project represents an investment of €15.2 million with two thirds of the funding coming from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Commenting on the announcement, Laurent Sellier, Chief Operating Officer of Smurfit Kappa Paper & Board Europe said: “At Smurfit Kappa, we place a strong focus on innovation and improving our energy efficiency, and we are delighted to have been chosen to take part in this project.

“Our Saillat mill will act as the perfect location for this groundbreaking piece of research due to the combined heat and power system on site and the mill’s optimal size. We are looking forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure this project is a success and acts as a pathway towards transformation of the global energy sector from fossil-based to zero-carbon.”

The HYFLEXPOWER project is developing new technologies which can be used across the whole power-to-X-to-power ** cycle. The installed demonstrator at the Saillat mill will be used to store excess renewable electricity in the form of green hydrogen. During periods of high demand this stored green hydrogen will then be used to generate electrical energy to be fed into the grid.

The project will be split into several phases with construction due to begin in 2021 and the pilot to commence in 2022.

Smurfit Kappa to participate in world's first hydrogen energy storage project HYFLEXPOWER with its Saillat paper mill in France

Posted in: Bio-Insight 08/05/2020 - 09:47