AF&PA: EPA Decision Underscores Respect for Idaho’s Protective Water Quality Criteria

Two Sides was recently flooded with complaints from around the world about unsubstantiated anti-paper environmental claims used by Dropbox, Inc. to encourage the use of its digital services. In an email distributed globally, the digital document management and storage company claimed that “Less Paper = More Trees,” using Dropbox is “more earth-friendly,” and that people can “do their part for the planet” and “secure the future of forests” by using Dropbox. With nearly 17 million paying customers and millions more who use its free service, Dropbox’s misleading claims are damaging consumer and business decision-maker perceptions of paper’s environmental sustainability and threatening the livelihoods of millions of people in the global paper, printing and mail sector. Two Sides wrote to the company’s CEO urging Dropbox to stop using these types of deceptive environmental claims about paper. Now, we’re asking our members to amplify the urgency of our request with letters of your own.

It’s important that the use of water to make products doesn’t result in contamination of waterways. Pulp and paper manufacturing requires a large amount of water, and facilities are often located near rivers or lakes to be close to a good water supply. Once the water is used in the process, it is treated in an effluent treatment plant, and regulatory standards have been established to ensure that the final discharged effluent meets government environmental regulations for the protection of waterways. EPAT provides water quality data, such as TSS, COD, BOD and AOX, to its users and they can be especially useful to buyers of paper-based products who are tracking the environmental performance of their paper or packaging suppliers.

The Finnish Parliament has yesterday 6 February 2019 approved a law that sets a gradually increasing 30% biofuels target for 2030. Furthermore, the law sets a world-leading advanced biofuels target of 10% in 2030. UPM welcomes the Finnish government's ambition to take transport decarbonisation seriously: "UPM is a leading producer of advanced biofuels as defined by the EU Renewable Energy Directive, and we consider this move by Finland as a bold step forward in setting concrete measures for transport decarbonisation," says Sari Mannonen, Vice President, UPM Biofuels. UPM produces wood-based UPM BioVerno renewable diesel at the Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland. Click read more below for additional detail.