The Environmental Tools Brochure entitled PAPER & ENVIRONMENT - A Commitment to High Environmental Standards and Continuous Improvement is a joint initiative between CEPIPRINT, CEPIFINE and EUGROPA. The three Associations have worked together to produce a document that will communicate basic yet essential information concerning the paper industry's efforts to protect the environment in line with sustainable development. PAPER & ENVIRONMENT - A Commitment to High Environmental Standards and Continuous Improvement. Is your paper environmentally friendly? Does it come from a sustainable managed forest? What fibres were used to make your paper? The answers to these questions, and more, can be given by your paper supplier. Read on to find out about the industry's efforts to reduce the environmental impact of paper and to inform customers of steps that we can all take to support sustainable development. The Paper & Environment brochure is also available in PDF format : DE | EN | FR

• Look inside the circle to find out more...
   
• Sustainable Fibre Resources
  Through sustainable forestry, the paper industry can ensure a renewable supply of raw material, as well as the preservation of biodiversity. Once paper products have been used, they can be collected and used several times, either as a secondary raw material (for recycled paper production) or as a biofuel.
• Product Related Information
  The environmental impact of a paper product during its life cycle is mainly linked to the manufacturing process. It is therefore essential that product related information is available to customers.
• Environmental Management Systems
  The European paper industry is convinced of the value of environmental management systems and has long promoted the adoption of such schemes on a voluntary basis. Environmental management systems provide useful tools to improve environmental performance and to assess the progress made. They also communicate the message that the industry strives for a continuous improvement of its production process.
• Common Responsibility
  The entire paper industry supply chain strives to make sustainably developed products. This leads to common responsibility where all stake-holders have an important role to play.
   
• CEPIPRINT, CEPIFINE and EUGROPA

Look inside the circle

Sustainable Fibre Resources

In CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) member countries, 50% of the forest area is already certified by independent forest certification schemes. The industry aims to increase this figure along with Chain of Custody certification to ensure the traceability of fibre in the final product.

Forest certification is one way of showing customers that the wood-based products they buy are made out of wood from responsibly managed forests. It aims at assuring society that all multifunctional interests, including biodiversity, recreational purposes and other social functions are taken care of.

In addition, there is certification of the wood-tracing system (Chain of Custody) along the sourcing, transportation, storage, processing (environmental management systems), and selling phases. In most cases, the tracing system is based on the environmental management system of the wood procurement organisation.

In order to further protect the environment while securing a plentiful supply of raw materials, the European paper industry is committed to increasing the share of certified fibre and the number of Chain of Custody certifications.

In the case of used fibre, recovered paper is an equally important raw material for the paper industry, in fact, we rely on it.

Some paper grades such as newsprint and packaging materials consume up to 100% recovered paper. However, due to high quality requirements, recovered fibre is not suitable for use in all paper grades, such as fine paper. Even though fine paper is seldom made from recovered fibre, it is itself an excellent and important source of raw material in the recovered paper making process.

The industry uses so much recovered paper that our demand for it is almost at the point of overtaking supply. This is a situation that we can all work together on to improve.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) are the two most frequently used systems in Europe promoting sustainable forest management and safeguarding long-term fibre resources.

Other forest management systems include: Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Tree Farm System, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Draft Australian Forestry Standard, Brazilian CERFLOR scheme, Chilean CERTFOR Standard.

A large proportion of fibre used in the paper industry comes from tree-tops, thinning operations and sawmill residues.

For more information on sustainable fibre resources, please visit:
www.cepi.org
www.fscoax.org
www.pefc.org

Product Related Information

As the usage of paper itself causes no environmental harm, it is of high relevance to provide information on manufacturers' commitment to improving environmental performance linked to production.

There are a number of tools available to communicate such environmental information. To begin with, we have a long tradition of open environmental reporting towards national authorities and other stakeholders. Various schemes, for example, declarations and labels, are available for producers to use to inform customers about the environmental impacts of the products they buy.

"Paper Profile" is one such environmental product declaration developed by leading manufacturers of graphic papers in conjunction with paper distributors and various industry associations. It provides professional paper buyers with relevant and uniform environmental information.

In addition, producers that are registered under the European Union's EMAS scheme can communicate key environmental information using third-party verified EMAS-reports. The EMAS-logo symbolizes the manufacturer's commitment to continuous improvement.

The International Standardization Organization, ISO, divides the various environmental labels into three different categories:

• Type I
  Labels signify that the environmental performance related to paper production fulfils selected product-specific criteria. These schemes do not take site-specific and local eco-system dependent factors into account.
• Type II
  Self-declaration labels are typically used to communicate information about a single issue, such as forest certification or energy consumption related to the use of equipment.
• Type III
  Standardisation process regarding environmental product declarations is currently in progress within ISO. Product declarations provide information regarding the composition of a product and its key environmental parameters.

For more information visit:
www.iso.org
www.emas.org.uk
www.paperprofile.com

Environmental Management Systems

Environmental management systems provide useful tools for improving environmental performance and for assessing the progress made in these areas. Compliance with the systems requires evidence of mills' continuous improvement in environmental performance on short-and long-term objectives.

These systems help companies to set and achieve environmental targets. They provide a solid framework for businesses to develop their environmental strategies and reach environmental goals regarding the production process. For example, under environmental management schemes, mills have been working hard to reduce specific CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels and achieved a 25% reduction in 2001 compared to 1990.

We believe that the backbone of any sustainable development approach in manufacturing industries is environmental management. Therefore, we aim to ensure that all pulp and paper produced in Europe is from mills that operate an environmental management system.

There are currently two main international environmental management systems in use throughout the industry, both of which are third party verified: ISO 14001 and the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

In 2002, over 60% of the pulp and paper produced in Europe came from mills certified with internationally recognized environ-mental management systems (ISO 14001 or EMAS).

Since 1990, the European Paper Industry has decreased its discharge to water of organic chlorine compounds (AOX) by over 90%.

The European paper industry's direct fossil CO2 emissions represent less than 1% of Europe's total industrial CO2 emissions.

For more information, visit:
www.cepi.org
www.emas.org.uk
www.iso.org

Common Responsibility

Up to now, we have looked at what papermakers are doing to supply products that have a reduced environmental impact. Customers have easy access to such information, which helps them to make informed choices as to the products they buy, and as stakeholders, we all share some of the responsibility for products at some point along the supply chain.

Sustainability requires all of us to move issues such as employment, income, society and local economy to the forefront of our minds. For instance, the paper industry aims to promote training and education among its employees to provide them with a sound platform for personal development both within and outside of the papermaking sector.

Perhaps the simplest way for consumers to make a valuable contribution towards common responsibility is by ensuring that each link in the supply chain respects the recyclability of paper. For printers, publishers, converters, for example, this means using substances such as glue and inks that can easily be removed from the fibres. For the end-consumer, it means putting used paper back into the production cycle by recycling wherever possible.

To demonstrate our commitment to sustainable development, papermakers have voluntarily adopted the European Declaration on Paper Recovery, which aims to increase the recycling rate by 2005. Taking into account the expected growth in paper consumption, the estimated amount of paper recycled in 2005 would be around 50 million tonnes (a recycling rate of 56%), some 11 million tonnes higher than in 1999.

But the story does not end here. Sustainable development is an ongoing process in which we can all participate. If you would like to read more about the paper industry's commitment to sustainability, please contact CEPI (www.cepi.org) for a copy of The European Paper Industry's Contribution to Europe's Sustainability. The document details targets, principles and indicators, which show our determination to make a tangible and positive contribution to sustainable development.

Q: Where is paper?
A: Everywhere!

• Magazines
• Copy paper
• Books
• Newspapers
• Tissues
• Packaging

For more information, visit:
www.cepi.org

CEPIPRINT, CEPIFINE and EUGROPA

CEPIPRINT is the Association of European Publication Paper Producers, which represents the industry sectors of newsprint and magazine paper grades within the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). Membership includes 52 companies belonging to 17 independent groups, over 60 paper mills and 165 paper machines in 13 European countries.
www.cepiprint.com

CEPIFINE is the European association of fine paper manufacturers. It represent the interests of its members with other European industrial and commercial organizations and under the guidance of CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) towards EU institutions. It provide interested parties with background information and statistics relating to fine paper products in Europe. The CEPIFINE secretariat is based in Brussels, Belgium.
www.cepifine.org

EUGROPA is a Confederation of 23 National Paper Merchants Associations. (EUropäischer Verband für GROsshändler in PApier, Association EUropéenne des GROssistes de PApiers). Through those 23 National Associations, EUGROPA represents about 220 individual Paper Merchants with a total of 24.000 employees. The total sales volume is 13 million tonnes of paper and board or a value of €14 billion.
www.eugropa.com