Fischer Paper Products has joined Two Sides North America, the non-profit organization that promotes and encourages the responsible production, use, and sustainability of print and paper. “It’s a well-known fact that many retailers and communities are switching from plastic to paper bags for environmental reasons. Fischer Paper Products is a provider of such paper products and we are very proud to have them as a new members of Two Sides. We look forward to helping them promote the environmental features of paper,” says Two Sides North America President, Phil Riebel.

Sappi North America, a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper and packaging products, has announced the release of its 2015 Sustainability Report. The report showcases Sappi's industry leading sustainability performance. "Each year, we look forward to reporting our progress against the five year goals we set to ensure that Sappi North America continues as a thriving, sustainable, re-investable company," said Mark Gardner, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have an eye to the future and are committed to make those decisions which best position our company in the changing business environment."

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) welcomes FSC’s announcement of the start of stakeholders consultation phase on the draft roadmap to end disassociation. The stakeholders consultation is now being conducted after FSC and APP agreed on a draft Roadmap for Ending Disassociation which outlines the commitments that APP needs to fulfil before the FSC Board of Directors will consider ending its disassociation. The stakeholders consultation is opened from April 4th until May 31st 2016, and will consist of a series of informational webinars as well as regional consultations.

UPM supports a school project called "Local waters". Originally launched in schools in the city of Rauma, the project will expand to other UPM mill locations in Finland in 2016. The project aims to improve grammar and encourage secondary school students to become more interested in natural sciences-particularly natural science related to water-by exploring the natural waters in the vicinity of the schools. In addition to UPM, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Raumanmeri Rotary Club and the organisation puhdasvesi.fi are also involved in the project. Schools involved in the project will receive equipment needed for water studies. Pupils will solve water-related tasks using information from various school subjects, and the findings are transmitted digitally to teachers via smartphones. The project is aimed at 5th and 7th graders. UPM will expand the project to other locations in Finland this year, particularly to Jämsä, Kuusankoski (Kouvola), Pietarsaari, Valkeakoski and Lappeenranta where UPM's mills are located.

Last week, USA Today published a column entitled “Paper may be bad for trees, but it is good for people” by Tal Gross, an assistant professor at Columbia University (@talgross https://twitter.com/talgross). Here at Two Sides we could not agree more with the findings and statements related to the benefits of paper for education and learning. Mr. Gross outlines research showing the following: •Students that read on paper versus screens score better in comprehension tests. •Those that take notes on paper versus a laptop learn more from lectures. •Those that doodle on paper (versus sitting still) while listening to a recording performed better in memory tests. Neuroscientific experiments have shown that there is a stronger emotional connection with print and paper versus screens, and our fact sheet Print and paper play a key role in learning and literacy highlights the tremendous social benefits of print and paper. We also have more good news for Mr. Gross, as outlined in the facts below, regarding the environmental sustainability of paper.

The leadership and personal commitment of the Algonquin Park Forest Advisory Group has been rewarded with the 2016 PEFC Canada Stewardship Award. “The Algonquin Park Forest Certification Advisory Group is one of many dedicated multi-stakeholder public groups in forest communities across Canada that provide advice on locally-adapted measures of good forest management,” said John Dunford, Chair of PEFC Canada. The Algonquin Park Forest Advisory Group is a forest certification advisory committee working with the Algonquin Forestry Authority on sustainable forest management within Algonquin Provincial Park in south-central Ontario. “There are many demands placed on public forests that influence how they are managed. These advisory groups help balance these forest values within the context of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) sustainable forest certification standard,” John continued.

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and other forest groups around the world welcome the official signing of the United Nations agreement on climate change that was reached late last year in Paris. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is among world leaders in New York for the signing ceremony. The global forest products industry has a highly significant role to play in Canada achieving its targets outlined in this deal, says Derek Nighbor, CEO of FPAC. “Canada’s forest products companies have made it clear that we intend to step up to the plate and help in the transition to a low-carbon economy here in Canada and elsewhere around the world,” he says. ”The global forest products industry has made significant strides in reducing its carbon footprint, stocking carbon and generating greenhouse gas removals—all helping to mitigate climate change,” said the President of the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations, Elizabeth de Carvalhaes of the Brazilian Tree Industry.

Designed to bust myths about paper production, and about other forest products, the new infographic reveals that in North America less than 36% of the annual timber harvest is directly used for paper and paperboard. In fact, most trees are harvested to make lumber and other solid wood products essential for construction, such as building homes and furniture. The infographic spotlights other key facts about paper, recycling, and other forest products, including: •Every year, North America grows many more trees than are harvested. •Paper is one of the most recycled products in the world with recovery rates of 65% and higher in North America. •About 35% of our paper products use recovered fiber as a raw material. Other key raw materials are sawmill residuals leftover from lumber manufacturing. •Forest products, such as paper, are based on a highly renewable and natural raw material – wood from sustainably managed North American forests.

The substantial impact of PEFC on promoting responsible forest management globally and locally, and the close alignment of our activities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): these are all clear to see in the 2015 PEFC Annual Review ‘Seeing the Bigger Picture’, released today by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the world's leading forest certification system. This Annual Review captures just a few of our activities and those of our members in 2015, but it already demonstrates that sustainable forest management is much more than just an environmental issue. It equally addresses the social, economic and cultural dimensions of sustainability at the core of the 17 SDGs.

It's a common assumption: if paper comes from trees, then using paper must be bad for forests, right? Wrong. American-manufactured paper actually benefits our nation's forestland and is a driving force in maintaining it for future generations. "It may seem counterintuitive, but the responsible production and use of paper is sustainable and helps keep forest land in the U.S. as forests," said Kate McGlynn, Product Environmental Steward for Boise Paper. "Using wood-based products like office paper actually gives American landowners incentive to sustainably manage their forests." If you're striving to "go green" this Earth Day, here's some good news: your office paper is green, as long as it comes from a responsible producer. Here are a handful of ways that paper use and production can support a healthy, forested landscape for future generations.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has been granted membership in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization devoted to helping the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environmental and development challenges. IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organization, with almost 1,300 government and NGO members and more than 15,000 volunteer experts in 185 countries. “We are so pleased to join this network of conservation-minded organizations. Biodiversity conservation is central to both IUCN’s and SFI’s mission. SFI is committed to quantifying the conservation impact of certified forests and responsible sourcing of forest products through programs such as the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard. Membership in IUCN will give us access to important tools and expertise to help this work,” said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI Inc.

Weyerhaeuser Company plans to commit up to 3 million acres of private timberland in Washington and Oregon to support a variety of conservation efforts focused on reintroducing the North American Fisher (Fisher) throughout the West. The Fisher reintroduction and conservation effort is being led by a variety of partners including: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), state wildlife agencies, conservation organizations and private forestland owners, like Weyerhaeuser. Today, the USFWS took a constructive step by recognizing the positive benefits of working forests when it determined the Fisher is not warranted for listing as a threatened or endangered species in the Northwest. Instead, it will cooperatively work with private landowners to encourage Fisher conservation. "Weyerhaeuser's working forests are perfect partners for wildlife conservation efforts because they are continually managed," said Rhonda Hunter, Weyerhaeuser's senior vice president for timberlands. "Private timberlands held by companies like Weyerhaeuser are attractive habitats for animals, like the Fisher. Sustainability is a core value at Weyerhaeuser, and we're proud to be part of this program." The Fisher is one of the larger members of the weasel family and is found only in North America's boreal and temperate forests. Fisher populations in Washington and Oregon were reduced dramatically in the 1800s and early 1900s through trapping, and predator and pest control.

Smithers Pira has published a new report entitled, The Future of Tissue Manufacturing to 2021, which provides an in-depth, long-term assessment of the rapidly evolving tissue manufacturing processes. Operating environment trends and diverging product performance levels will push alternative manufacturing technologies. Tissue manufacturers occupying economy segments compete primarily on price. This requires increased focus on productivity and cost control. Premium level product performance will drive increased adoption of structured sheet technologies supported by chemicals and fibres. Changes are well underway as the standardisation of crescent former configurations and sizes have allowed machines to be built in auto assembly line fashion in workshops at much lower costs than the traditional engineered custom machines. Steel Yankee assembly is rapidly joining this disruptive approach to machinery sourcing.

RenFuel and Nordic Paper have signed an agreement to build a production test facility in Bäckhammar in the region of Värmland, Sweden in order to test-manufacture an advanced biofuel based on lignin. The project has been granted 71 million SEK by the Swedish Energy Agency. The Swedish bioenergy research firm RenFuel has developed and patented a method to refine the lignin from black liquor, a renewable byproduct from the production of paper pulp, into lignin oil. The oil, called Lignol, can replace fossil oil and be used as raw material in the production of renewable gasoline and diesel. Using the black liquor also leads to an increase in production capacity and profit in the paper pulp industry. “Our product Lignol is the key to reaching the goal of a fossil free vehicle fleet in Sweden by 2030. We are very pleased to finally being able to put the product into large scale testing, as a result of the cooperation with Nordic Paper and the financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency,” Sven Löchen, CEO of RenFuel said.

UPM Raflatac has cooperated with leading Italian wine producer Cielo e Terra on a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to study the environmental impacts of wine bottles. The comprehensive study took into account the full life cycle of the wine bottle and related packaging elements, and was performed in accordance with ISO 14040/44 standards. The study will be presented in a congress organised in connection to Vinintaly, international exhibition on wine and spirits, on 12th April 2016. "Our aim is to better understand the environmental impacts related to our products and, together with our suppliers, find new ways to reduce them. The impacts of our recent investments in renewable energy are clearly visible in the results of the LCA study," says Giampietro Povolo, Finance and Operation Manager, Cielo e Terra. "When comparing the years before and after the investments, we can identify reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of 10% and water consumption of 24% during the life cycle of a wine bottle."

GreenBlue, an environmental nonprofit dedicated to the sustainable use of materials in industry, has launched an updated version of the Environmental Paper Assessment Tool, EPAT 3.0. EPAT (www.epat.org) is an innovative, web-based tool that allows buyers and sellers of paper products to work together to evaluate the sustainability of their paper products. For paper buyers, EPAT provides a customized analysis to measure key environmental performance indicators in their supply chain and work with suppliers to meet sustainability criteria. This latest version of EPAT builds on this the collaborative aspects of the tool and makes it even easier for buyers to gain transparency into their supply chains, including historical data, to look at improvement over time. For paper suppliers, EPAT offers a single, consistent framework for reporting environmental data.

Scandinavia is soon to welcome its first PEFC Project certified building as Mäihä, a wooden apartment block, is unveiled at the Seinäjoki Housing Fair in Finland this July. Through PEFC Project Certification, the building constructors will be able to demonstrate the project’s contribution to environmental conservation and economic sustainability. “We are pleased that the first Nordic PEFC construction project will be in Finland,” announced Auvo Kaivola, Secretary General of PEFC Finland. “There have already been several good examples of PEFC Project Certification, including Kingsgate House, a certified apartment block in the UK, and the Winter Universiade in Italy.” Mäihä will be built from modules made of PEFC-certified cross laminated timber (CLT) assembled in Stora Enso's mill. The modules are prefabricated in Hartola mill, and ready for assembly in the construction site. The prefabricated elements include windows, doors and kitchen units.

The green building movement – from architects and builders to specifiers and planners - can now benefit from an expanded range of responsibly sourced timber and forest products eligible for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has just issued an Alternative Compliance Path (ACP). The ACP rewards building projects that use "wood products from certified sources as defined by ASTM D7612-10", which includes internationally recognized voluntary forest certification standards such as PEFC (including its North American based members ATFS, CSA and SFI) and FSC. The ACP will apply to all LEED v4 rating systems including Homes v4 and to all LEED 2009 rating systems. “Sustainable, PEFC-certified timber provides architects and the construction industry with great opportunities,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International.

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) applauds today’s news that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will now recognize wood and paper products certified by a variety of authorities. The USGBC has previously recognized only sustainable forest management certification from a single standard. But the USGBC says builders and architects can now get credit for the use of wood and paper products certified by a number of standards authorities. For Canadian forest products companies, this change will mean increased market access for some products, wider recognition of the value of some Canadian forest products, and, potentially, increased revenue and employment for the forest products sector.

Average recycled content of newspapers in 2015 was 71 per cent - ahead of the voluntary target agreed between newspaper publishers and the Government, according to a report compiled by independent auditors for the Newspaper Industry Materials Committee. Newspaper industry body NIMC provides a forum for the discussion of matters of mutual interest with regard to production materials used in newspaper publishing. On a biannual basis, publishers commission an audit to establish whether recycling targets are being achieved. The auditors comment that the results have been affected “fairly dramatically” by a singular event, namely the closure of Aylesford Newsprint in the early months of 2015 and the resulting loss of some major domestic recycled newsprint capacity.

An editorial, “Pushing back against progressive bullies,” which appeared in The Wall Street Journal on March 18, 2016, provides an interesting synopsis of the events between Resolute and Greenpeace and concludes: “Greenpeace has tried to contain the Resolute case and ensure it only affects its Canadian operations, but Justice Fitzpatrick wisely understood that it is one global organization. Now the Divisional Court in Ontario is considering the issue and if Greenpeace loses again, the outfit could soon be coughing up the internal documents behind its various campaigns of fear and intimidation world-wide.”