Paper is a Recycling Success Story. Pulp and Paperworkers Explain Why.

The circular economy has quickly become a central element of European economic policy. The aim of politicians and businesses is to reduce the use of fossil raw materials through recycling and reuse, and to replace them with renewable alternatives. The European Commission is currently preparing legislation that aims to step up the recycling of oil-based plastics. “We are collaborating closely with industry; the Plastics Alliance we have brought together includes representatives from the whole value chain. Their task is to solve the problem of how to increase the recovery, recycling and reuse of plastics in Europe,” explains European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen. Click Read More below for additional information.

UPM moves forward with biofuels growth plans and starts the basic engineering phase of a next generation biorefinery. The potential biorefinery would have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes of high-quality renewable fuels including sustainable jet fuel. The products would significantly reduce carbon footprint in the road transport and aviation, as well as replace fossil raw materials with renewable alternatives in chemicals and bioplastics. “The planned biorefinery would scale up UPM’s successful biofuels business to a new level. At the same time, it would further improve long term competitiveness and sustainability performance of UPM Biofuels by introducing several sustainable feedstocks and achieving uniquely high CO2 emission reduction compared to biofuels currently in the market,” says Jyrki Ovaska, Chief Technology Officer of UPM. UPM’s solid wood biomass-based residues and side streams would play a substantial role in the feedstock pool. In addition, it would consist of sustainable liquid waste and residue raw materials.

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE:AVY) today reported advancements against its 2025 sustainability goals intended to transform the company and the industries it serves. The 2014-2016 sustainability report, All of Us, Every Day, highlights how the company is leveraging its size and scale to drive change across its operations, industry, and communities. Key achievements include: A reduction of location-based absolute CO2 emissions of 3.2% in 2016 and market-based absolute emissions (includes renewable energy instruments) by nearly 12%. 78% of total volume of paper procured in 2016 held either an FSC or PEFC claim. A 2016 world class safety record, with a recordable incident rate (RIR) of 0.25. Click Read More below for additional detail.