Atlantic Contributes to the Largest Conservation Easement Project in South Carolina History

“Paper and wood products manufacturers applaud the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for providing clarity around the implementation of Clean Water Act regulations across the United States. All stakeholders – including forest products manufacturers and state and local governments – deserve regulatory certainty as they work to ensure our nation’s waters are protected. As one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the nation with a successful record of implementing sustainable manufacturing principles and investing in improving water quality, we support EPA’s action to promote the environment, economic growth and job creation.”

Our Plymouth Mill has taken another step toward a more sustainable future thanks to the success of a recent resource conservation project. Just one year after the installation of a cooling tower and new heat exchangers, the mill’s closed-loop system for heating process water has exceeded expectations by dramatically reducing daily water consumption and fuel costs. Last May, the team installed a cooling tower and two large heat exchangers to reclaim waste heat from the mill and use it to reduce steam consumption. While the resource conservation project was originally expected to eliminate the use of about 11 million gallons of river water per day, Operations Manager David Council says the system is performing better than expected, saving approximately 18 million gallons of water per day. Before the team installed the new equipment, the mill used water from the nearby Roanoke River to cool mill processes. The mill returned the water to the river in the same condition, only slightly warmer. With the addition of the cooling tower and heat exchangers, the mill now has a closed-loop system that reclaims heat from the mill’s evaporation equipment and transfers it to process water. The reclaimed heat reduces the mill’s steam load, which means it burns less fuel in the boilers to make steam.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö has joined CELAB (Circular Economy for Labels), a global coalition recently created to promote the development of circular economy for self-adhesive label materials. The purpose of CELAB is to create greater recyclability for the products in the self-adhesive label industry by enhancing and promoting options for recycling their waste streams around the world. There are two main process stages in the value chain of label materials which generate waste streams. The first stream is generated from the unused surrounding area of the self-adhesive face stock material after cutting the labels; this is also known as “matrix waste”. The second stream arises from the liner from which the label is peeled away during dispensing. Turning these waste streams into resources offers important sustainability improvements.