AF&PA Statement on EPA’s Finalization for Step One of WOTUS Repeal Rule

DS Smith is pleased to confirm that it has received the Brownfield Briefing Award’s Best Biodiversity Enhancement Award for its environmental remediation project at the site of its former papermaking mill at Silverton, Devon, UK. Silverton Mill was one of the UK’s oldest paper mills, and was located within the Killerton National Trust estate in Devon. It closed its doors in 1999 after a paper manufacturing history that had lasted over 200 years, but had left the surrounding area contaminated with industrial waste. The mill buildings themselves rapidly decayed in the years after the machinery was removed from the site. Click Read More below for additional information.

Amazon plans to eliminate plastic in its mailer bags as part of an effort to cut down on waste, decarbonize and improve overall sustainability, according to the company’s 2022 sustainability report released this week. It’s also boosting attention to packaging lightweighting and elimination. The company is “phasing out padded bags containing plastics in favor of recyclable alternatives,” the report says. Some of the bags are solely made of plastic while others are a blend of plastic and paper; the mixed materials can present recycling challenges. In the U.S. and Canada last year, the company replaced 99% of padded bags made from a mix of plastic and paper with paper-padded bags that the company says are recyclable.

Smallholders are vital to the concept of meaningful sustainable commodity production. They are not only significant producers of wood-based and agricultural products, but they rely on forest and farm land for their livelihoods,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International, speaking yesterday at Innovations Forum’s Sustainable Landscape Conference 2018. “If we fail to integrate them meaningfully into global supply chains, we fail in promoting sustainability in general and more specifically, the sustainable livelihoods of hundreds of million rural based families.” Addressing the unique needs of smallholders - which differ from country to country, from community to community, from sector to sector – requires bottom-up processes. Processes that ensure smallholders are an integral part of the conversation on establishing and securing the future of sustainable supply chains. “One size doesn’t fit all,” Mr Gunneberg emphasized. Click read more below for additional detail.