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RESPONSIBLE PAPER PROCUREMENT |
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When selecting a paper supplier, purchasers are faced with a number of questions concerning “the right thing to do”. Paper has become an essential part of our everyday lives and has an important role to play in promoting literacy and democracy, along with many other everyday uses that we have come to take for granted.
The following excerpt from “The WWF Guide to Buying Paper” puts this issue into perspective:
“Paper is made from renewable resources, and responsibly produced and used paper has many advantages over other, non-renewable alternative materials.
However, around the world we use around 1 million tonnes of paper every day and our paper consumption is escalating.
In some regions, the expanding production and harvesting of pulp wood threatens the last remaining natural forests, their precious fauna and flora, and the people that depend on them. The processing of pulp and paper also consumes vast amounts of energy and releases a wide range of polluting compounds into the environment.”
Demand for paper determines the available supply of paper and the WWF Guide to Buying Paper provides an excellent reference for paper purchasers to play their part in reducing the environmental footprint of paper production. The guide says: “As a buyer you have a choice and a major influence on your suppliers. This guide will help you to take responsibility for the products you buy and the effects they have on people and nature. It is designed for easy use and is aimed at any organization or company that purchases paper on a regular basis for its business needs.
The aim of environmentally responsible paper purchasing and use is to:
- minimize forest degradation and biodiversity loss;
- minimize contributions to climate change;
- minimize water and air pollution; and
- minimize waste.”
…all of which suggests that for organisations to act responsibly in paper procurement, a little homework needs to be done on the manufacturers. (The full guide is available at http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_paper_guide.pdf)
At Mondi, we are committed to ensuring that our products are manufactured in a sustainable manner. We actively pursue a set of environmental focus areas including:
- Making use of sustainable fibre resources for our products (Forest Stewardship Council certification).
- Reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of on landfill.
- apply the waste hierarchy within our operations (prevent, minimize, re-use, recycle, energy recovery, disposal).
- optimize efficiency within production processes to minimize water consumption. Implement sustainable practices within our forestry operations to minimize impact on water resources.
- improve energy efficiency thereby reducing carbon emissions.
- Utilise biomass for energy production as far as possible.
- Reduce emissions to water by focusing on continuous improvement within manufacturing processes.
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