Business News
Sappi Fine Paper North America Renews its Support for Living Lands and Waters and Reaffirms its Sustainability Commitment
Tuesday 21. April 2009 - With the celebration of Earth Day tomorrow, Sappi Fine Paper North America today announced that it will continue supporting Living Lands & Waters in 2009 and reaffirmed its commitment to operating sustainably.
As part of Sappi Fine Paper North America’s corporate sponsorships, since 2007, the company has supported Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit, environmental organization focused on the protection, preservation and restoration of America’s major rivers and their watersheds. Last year, Sappi and Living Lands & Waters co-organized and participated in river cleanups in Louisville, Ky. and this year, Sappi will invite employees and customers to participate in future cleanups to be held in the Midwest, which is where the organization is based. With Sappi’s support in 2008, Living Lands & Waters’ activities included removing 250 tons of garbage from America’s rivers; reaching over 2,500 educators and students through educational workshops and in-school presentations; and cultivating over 338,000 viable acorns in their nursery as part of their MillionTrees Project.
“Sappi Fine Paper North America is pleased to continue its corporate sponsorship of Living Lands & Waters, for it is an environmental organization that is truly remarkable in its mission and its grassroots approach to cleaning up our nation’s rivers and watersheds. Our support for Living Lands & Waters is just one of the many ways that Sappi is demonstrating our ongoing commitment to sustainability,” said Jennifer Miller, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Sappi Fine Paper North America.
Sustainability is fundamental to Sappi Fine Paper North America’s corporate strategy and below are highlights of some of its sustainability initiatives:
— Triple Chain of Custody Certification: As of February 2008, each of
Sappi’s coated fine paper mills in North America–Somerset Mill,
Muskegon Mill and Cloquet Mill, have triple chain of custody
certifications to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative(R) (SFI), Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC), and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification (PEFC) programs, and renewed certification to the
2005-2009 SFI(R) Standard, which was first achieved in 2004. In
addition, the Cloquet and Somerset Mills are also certified to the
Sustainable Forestry Initiatives’ Fiber Sourcing program. All
certifications were achieved through independent third-party audits
managed by Bureau Veritas.
— Offering our products with Post-Consumer Waste fiber: Sappi Fine Paper
North America’s coated fine paper mills use recycled fiber derived
from post consumer waste (PCW) to make Sappi papers available with 10
to 30% PCW.
— Limiting Our Contribution to Greenhouse Gases
— Sappi Fine Paper North America is committed to reducing energy
consumption and the use of fossil fuels in order to reduce the
generation of greenhouse gases. More than 75% of all energy used in
Sappi’s North American mills comes from renewable resources
including hydroelectric power, and the burning of biomass and black
liquor.
— Sappi’s environmental initiatives at our mills have resulted in a
30% decrease per ton in CO2 emissions across all Sappi Fine Paper
North America manufacturing sites from 2004 to 2008.
— The Cloquet Mill is certified by the Center for Resource Solutions
as a Green-e(R) provider. One-hundred percent of the electricity
used in the manufacturing of McCoy, Opus sheets with 30% post-
consumer waste (PCW), Opus web with 30% PCW and LOE, is certified
renewable energy that is generated onsite by Sappi.
— Commitment to the communities where we live and work: Sappi Fine Paper
North America’s sites build strong community relationships and donate
and/or volunteer at local non-profit organizations, which include
supporting programs in education, youth at risk and AIDS prevention.
— Achieving ISO 14001:2004 certification: The environmental management
systems at Sappi’s coated fine paper mills in North America are
certified to the ISO 14001:2004 standard– the internationally
accepted standard used to demonstrate an organization’s commitment to
the environment.