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April 20, 2021
Update in Brief

Spotlight in Brief: 2020 Sustainability Award Winner for Sustainable Water Use

Leadership in Sustainability Award: Sustainable Water Use

Member Spotlight Sappi North America

Water is an essential part of the pulp and papermaking process, making water stewardship critical.

AF&PA member Sappi North America, a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and pulp, is challenging industry standards and innovating new methods for sustainability by repurposing and reducing waste at all locations.

At their Somerset mill in Skowhegen, Maine, Sappi’s “Caustic Reclaim and Reuse” project focused on reducing the cost of the Somerset mill’s boiler flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) and volume of purchased caustic.

The mill achieved both: reducing the amount of purchased caustic by 660 tons per year and overall mill water use by 12,000 gallons per day.

The reduction process method has surpassed the industry standard, which benefits the mill’s fiscal position and helps the Somerset mill meet its environmental ambitions and maintain a positive relationship with the surrounding community.

Learn more about AF&PA’s Sustainability Initiative.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030. 

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