Canada’s Forest sector applauds recent Senate Committee Recommendations

Mondi opened the Group’s first recycling laboratory at its Frantschach mill in Austria to test the recyclability of paper and paper-based packaging using non-paper components such as coatings. Conducting recycling tests in-house speeds up the process for developing sustainable packaging. While paper packaging offers many sustainability benefits, it also has certain barrier functionality limitations for products like perishable food. To enhance its functionality, non-paper components such as barrier coatings may need to be added, which in turn can impact recyclability. The data collected at the laboratory can be used to improve existing products and provide reliable information about their environmental impact. Mondi will also use the results to determine how the design of new packaging can be improved as well as how best to improve the circularity of [our] material flows. The tests are carried out on various paper and paper-based packaging products developed by Mondi and can determine whether the packaging can be efficiently recycled. The laboratory works in a similar way to industrial recycling facilities, but on a smaller scale. Results generated provide concrete evidence that the material can be recycled.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock issued the following statement in opposition to the Maine Legislature’s passage of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging (LD 1541): ”American Forest & Paper Association members have a measurable record of success in making paper and paper-based packaging more sustainable and circular through market-based approaches. Maine’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging ignores the fact that our industry has achieved a consistently high paper recycling rate. Last year, nearly two-thirds of all paper was recycled, and for over a decade, paper recycling has met or exceeded 63 percent. “We urge Governor Janet Mills to veto Maine LD 1541. The current bill has direct consequences for Maine’s businesses and manufacturers, including the forest products industry, which operates 35 facilities and employs more than 13,000 people in the Pine Tree State. This legislation does not recognize the material recovery and market development achievements of the paper industry, and it should be based on sound policy that benefits the environment, consumers and reflects best practices for doing business and creating jobs.”

Proving the success of working together to advance sustainability, the Legal Forests program has been contributing to the restoration of the Villadagio property, owned by rural producers Lucas Caliari and Laís Ferrari, located in Serra Catarinense, in the city ​​of São Joaquim (SC). The area, initially used for grazing cattle, is being transformed into an example of agroforestry - a production system that conserves permanent forest species, planted along with agricultural crops. Held by Klabin, the largest producer and exporter of paper for packaging and sustainable solutions in paper packaging in Brazil, in partnership with the Association for the Preservation of the Environment and Life (Apremavi), Matas Legal arrived in Santa Catarina in 2005, with the objective of developing conservation actions, environmental education and forest promotion, which help to protect and recover native forests, improving the quality of life of the population and enhancing local forestry development, based on the planning of properties and landscapes.