Kruger Specialty Papers Joins the SPC

Georgia-Pacific announced today that it is now accepting mixed paper bales that contain single-use polyethylene (PE)-coated paper cups at its recycled paper mills in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Muskogee, Oklahoma. The development follows two years of partnership with the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) and collaboration with the NextGen Consortium, a global initiative led by Closed Loop Partners with founding partners Starbucks and McDonald’s, to help open opportunities for paper cup recycling. PE coatings, along with any remaining liquid and food left behind from use, have historically left single-use paper cups out of the recovery and recycling process. GP, though, has proven through its extensive re-pulping trials that the Green Bay and Muskogee mills can effectively recapture valuable cup fiber from paper cups while screening out PE-coatings and reuse the fiber to make toilet tissue, napkins and paper towels. “As single-use paper cups have grown in popularity in recent years so, too, has paper cup waste. As a leading manufacturer of paper foodservice products, we continually look for ways to consume fewer resources as part of our longer-term strategy to identify solutions that benefit society. Accepting mixed paper bales containing PE-coated cups at our Green Bay and Muskogee mills is a significant step in this direction,” said John Mulcahy, vice president of sustainability for Georgia-Pacific, which manufactures the Dixie® brand of paper cups.

Following the positive evaluation of the PEFC chain of custody by the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), European accreditation bodies can now provide accreditation against the 2020 PEFC Chain of Custody and Trademarks standards. This decision enables certification bodies to update their accreditation and clears the way for thousands of PEFC-certified companies worldwide to transition to the 2020 chain of custody standards. Furthermore, companies looking to achieve PEFC certification have the opportunity to be certified against the 2020 standards. In addition, we have extended the transition period by six months, to 14 August 2022, to give accreditation and certification bodies more flexibility. After this date, all certification bodies must be accredited against the 2020 standards and all chain of custody audits carried out against the 2020 standards.

Starting from December 2024, the European Union Deforestation-free products Regulation (EUDR) will be implemented. This new legislation aims to prevent the sale of seven commodity products – soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, and rubber – that are major drivers of deforestation, if sourced from areas affected by deforestation or forest degradation practices. By promoting the consumption of “deforestation-free” products and reducing the EU’s impact on global deforestation and forest degradation, the new EUDR is expected to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. The EUDR will require us to provide evidence that every quantity of pulp we purchase from outside the EU comes from areas free from deforestation. To comply with the Regulation, wood must have been harvested from land that was not subject to deforestation and without inducing forest degradation after December 31, 2020.