Consumables

Magno, the green choice

Wednesday 11. June 2008 - Although many designers, print buyers and printers may be aware of Magno's reputation for beautiful reproduction of colour and detail, as well as its consistency and reliability across the range, few realise its excellent environmental credentials, according to Business Manager Wayne Davis.

“Magno coated papers are recognised as performing at the highest level in terms of CIE whiteness, ink setting and surface quality, but the brand also has one of the lowest environmental footprints, in terms of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and waste, of any equivalent paper in Europe. And, compared to coated woodfree papers from other parts of the world, Magno is certainly the green choice,” he says.

Both Sappi mills that produce Magno are certified under the ISO 14001 and EMAS standards and hold joint FSC and PEFC chain-of-custody certification, evidence that the fibres they use come from well managed and controlled sources. The lower grammages are made on the largest and most efficient paper machine in Europe – PM11 at Sappi’s Gratkorn mill in Austria. The mill has a high level of integrated fibre production and is powered by a state-of-the-art CHP (combined heat and power) plant, fuelled by a high level of biomass from the production process. Raw materials, as well as finished product, are shipped to and from the mill by rail.

Europe’s largest coated woodfree board machine – PM6 at Sappi’s Maastricht mill in the Netherlands – produces Magno’s higher grammages. The mill primarily operates on natural gas and its highly efficient gas-steam CHP plant sells a surplus of 27MW electricity to the local grid and additionally 5MW of heat to the town for heating and cooling municipal and residential buildings, as well as a local shopping centre. The mill is situated directly on the river Maas, so raw materials, including market pulp, pigments and fillers, are shipped by barge. A project for a rail link is also being studied.

Both mills recycle a high proportion of their process materials and operate modern multiple-stage wastewater treatment facilities.

“We publish Paper Profiles for all our Magno papers, providing details on their composition, the key environmental parameters for both paper and pulp production, as well as information on our environmental management and wood procurement procedures. These are available from our local sales offices,” says Davis. “We also publish our series of fact sheets covering Sappi’s environmental record in Europe, which show our progress against the main environmental indicators.”