Environment
Georgia-Pacific is one of the leading producers of tissue and paper products and we are committed to continually improving our environmental performance for the benefit of customers, consumers and communities alike.
Our environmental platforms : EcoPromise® initiative, which focuses on Georgia-Pacific EMEA's retail business, and Green by Design®initiative, which focuses on Georgia-Pacific EMEA's Away-From-Home business apply to both our products and processes. We use them in driving our environmental projects and improvements:
| Reduce | Reuse | Renew / Recycle | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products | Eco Design (Retail) Reduce paper Consumption (AFH) | Multiple Use and Reusable Products | Products with Sustainable Virgin fibers and or Recycled Content |
| Processes ( Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply, Innovation,… ) | Reduce Energy, Water, Waste | Reuse Water, Waste from Process |
Through our EcoPromise® and Green by Design® initiatives, we are actively engaged in environmental activities in four broad areas:
- Sustainable sourcing
- Water and Waste management in our production processes
- Energy efficiency
- Packaging and supply chain
Georgia-Pacific EMEA manufactures a variety of brands with different fiber mixes throughout Europe to meet our customer and consumer needs and expectations. We are committed to using resources wisely and our product portfolio reflects this. We have achieved this by:
- applying sound science
- investing in research and innovation
- producing products that consumers prefer and that respect the environment today and in the future
Coming from a renewable source, wood is one of the most sustainable raw materials, provided it is legally sourced from responsible forests. Certification programs are one resource we use to help ensure that our fiber comes from responsible forests. With our EcoPromise® initiative we demonstrate our commitment to support sustainable forest management, and the symbol appears on all our bathroom tissue and kitchen towel products in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition, several of our products across Europe, including Nouvelle bathroom tissue in the UK, are made from 100% recycled fiber.
Without compromising on quality, our away-from-home products are made from an optimized blend of raw materials, mostly from recycled fibers and/or from sustainable virgin fibers. Georgia-Pacific EMEA has developed innovative manufacturing techniques that are able to reuse used beverage packaging, thus optimizing post-consumer waste, but is limited in certain applications by regulatory restrictions such as Food Contact. In 2010, 18% of our total waste paper usage was post-consumer waste.
Georgia-Pacific EMEA overall is one of the leading producers of recycled tissue and paper products. Most of our away-from-home products are made from 100% recycled fibers. In 2010, 46% of raw material input for Georgia-Pacific EMEA tissue manufacturing was waste paper.
Worldwide, Georgia-Pacific, including the EMEA business, is one of the largest users of recycled fibers. At a global level, Georgia-Pacific annually purchases between 4.5 and 6.5 million tonnes of recovered paper which it uses in its own businesses to make a variety of paper and paperboard products and brokers to others.
Our environmental decisions can be very complicated because we have long supply chains, our manufacturing processes are complex, and we use large quantities of raw materials. For this reason, we are not comfortable with one-dimensional benchmarks, no matter how well intended. Instead, we look at every aspect of what we do and, in each case, base our decisions on credible scientific evidence.
Georgia-Pacific EMEA and the EU Ecolabel
To further demonstrate to customers and consumers our commitment to sustainability, Georgia-Pacific EMEA is benchmarking its manufacturing processes, its supply chain network and its approach to raw material procurement against the standards required for the EU Ecolabel, known as the EU Flower. The scheme is managed by the European Commission and aims at encouraging companies to pursue environmental excellence through stringent criteria. When a company in the tissue paper industry has fulfilled the specific industry criteria, according to the European Commission its operations reflect :
- Reduced air emissions of sulphur and greenhouse gases during production
- Decreased water pollution during production by reducing the emissions of chlorine compounds and organic waste
- Reduced energy consumption during production
- Reduced risks for human health, environmental damage or risks related to the use of hazardous chemicals
- Use of recycled fibers or virgin fibers from sustainably managed forests
For more background and information on the standards required for EU Flower certification for the tissue paper industry, visit the EU website.
GP EMEA’s environmental performance has already resulted in EU Flower certification in the Private Label industry in France and the UK, where a large number of products bear the EU flower. Georgia-Pacific’s EMEA Away-From-Home mills in Hondouville (France) and Cuijk (Netherlands) have successfully met all the award criteria.
Similarly, in the Nordic region Georgia-Pacific’s products bear the national Nordic Swan ecolabel, which is awarded to products based on criteria pertaining to environmental impact from raw material sourcing to waste.