ATA Outlines Principles for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Inc. announced today that the SFI 2015-2019 Forest Management Standard has again met the rigorous third-party assessment of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). This is SFI’s fourth PEFC assessment. The SFI Program was first endorsed in 2005. PEFC is an umbrella organization that endorses national forest certification systems developed collaboratively by diverse stakeholders, tailored to local priorities and conditions. “SFI makes important contributions that address the unique needs of North America’s forests and communities, and is a valuable national member working with PEFC to elevate the role of responsible forestry,” said Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC. “Only forest certification standards that meet our rigorous meta-standard and that are developed in an open, transparent manner through a multi-stakeholder process are endorsed by PEFC.” PEFC’s sustainable forest management criteria are founded on internationally recognized criteria and indicators developed by government agencies around the world. The SFI Program was re-endorsed by PEFC after a 60-day public comment period, a detailed examination and third-party assessment against nearly 200 criteria by a PEFC-approved assessor and a review by the PEFC Panel of Experts.

“Biomass” isn't a word most people know. But this renewable, cost effective fuel is becoming increasingly important to our planet. It helps reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and curtail the demand for purchased electricity while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. What is biomass? It's fuel from organic materials. The woody biomass GP uses comes mainly from tree waste, such as bark, wood residues and by-products from pulping wood fiber. And it makes up more than 50 percent of the energy we use to run our plants and mills. As whole trees come into sites such as our Alabama River Cellulose (ARC) facility near Monroeville, Alabama, bark is removed from logs before they go into the chipper. The dissolved lignin (black liquor) is later removed leaving behind the cellulose fibers. The bark and the black liquor are then used as biomass fuel. Click Read More bellow for additional information.

For decades now, billions of dollars in recycling infrastructure investment by the paper industry combined with support from consumers, communities and businesses have made the recycling of paper-based packaging an overwhelming success across North America. Even so, the great success story of recycled packaging has been muddled by competing claims between and among paper manufacturers and the environmental community about how much recycled content packaging products should contain. Unfortunately, consumers, brands and retailers have been badly served by the black-or-white nature of this debate. There’s no question that recycled content contributes to the sustainability of paper-based packaging and to a more sustainable, circular economy. But does every product have to contain 100% recycled content to be sufficiently sustainable, as some insist? The answer is no. To begin with, recycled fiber has to originate somewhere, and that origin is the virgin fiber that made up the paper product that got recycled in the first place. click read more below for additional information