Good packaging comes from a closed loop system.
Modern society demands packaging which enables the distribution of goods in a durable way as well as choosing packing materials which have the least environmental impact.
All packing material shall be recycled, that is our standpoint. But if the packaging is incinerated, or if it ends up in nature, it’s important that it does not contain any substances which could be dangerous to nature.
Our most important material is corrugated board. It’s easy to compress and send to the paper mill, where the fibres are re-used. 87% of all packaging made out of corrugated board is recycled.
Environmental impact. How is it measured?
Climate change is the biggest single global environmental impact we face. Naturally any means of measuring this impact attracts attention. For this reason the “carbon footprint” of products
has been much debated.
The methodology for determining carbon footprints, based on the International Standards for Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is becoming well established.
SCA Packaging has been closely involved in developing this methodology through its trade association CEPI who developed the ‘Ten Toes’ approach and FEFCO, where the use of the FEFCO European Database for Corrugated Board Lifecycle Studies which ensures a rigorous assessment.
SCA Packaging is able to provide reliable, industry-based data as an input to customers developing the carbon footprints of their product.
This can be seen as one means by which producers and retailers are able to provide concise information on environmental impacts to their customers. Declaring carbon footprints for packaging on its own would be unhelpful and confusing for consumers.
In general the carbon footprint of recycled paper products is higher than similar products made with fresh fibre. This is because, in an integrated process to pulp wood to give fresh fibre and make paper, most of the energy used is from biogenic sources and fossil CO2 emissions are low.
When making paper from recycled fibre, biogenic sources of energy are more limited, more energy from fossil fuel is needed and hence the carbon footprint is higher. If this were the only measure used, the decision might be not to use recycled fibre however this would be incorrect as it is essential that material resources are preserved through recycling as much fibre as possible.
SCA Packaging took an active roll in developing the ECR Europe/EUROPEN guide. There the options and choices available for optimising packaging with regard to sustainability and detail on environmental impact is described.
Our main starting material - wood.
Paper and board is made from cellulose fibre and the source of this fibre is wood. Trees grow by absorbing carbon dioxide through a natural process called photosynthesis.
Around 50% of the total quantity of fresh fibre which SCA uses comes from its own forests in Northern Sweden. The total area of these forests is around 2.6 million hectares and the stock of wood in these forests increases at the rate of 1% per year.
This equates to the net storage, or “sequestration”, of some 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year, which is close to SCA’s total emissions of fossil CO2.
Since 1999, the SCA Group’s forest management practices have met the standards of both the
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
The net result is that SCA is one of the world’s largest suppliers of FSC-certified products. SCA also acknowledges other forest certification schemes such as PEFC, SFI and CSA.
The issue of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
The increase in CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere is recognised as the principle cause of climate change.
This rise comes from increased use of fossil fuels, essentially coal, oil and gas. These fuels were formed by a fossilisation process in the earth’s crust through CO2 being taken out of the atmosphere over a period of millions of years.
The fuels are now however being extracted in huge quantities and the CO2 is being released again over only a few hundred years.
Biogenic CO2
It is important to distinguish between CO2 from fossil sources and CO2 from “biogenic” sources, which include wood and other plant species that store CO2 through the process of photosynthesis. The release of this biogenic CO2, through for instance incineration, does not increase the overall quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere. Some 40% of SCA’s total energy use comes from biogenic sources.
One of SCA’s major focus points with regard to mitigating climate change is the reduction of fossil CO2 emissions from it mills and operating units.
The goal is to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and the purchase of electricity and heating (in relation to production) by 20% by the year 2020 with 2005 as a reference year.By 2008 a reduction of 2.6% in relation to the production level has been achieved.