Environmental trends
June 1st 2010 How is the green movement developing? SCA global hygiene environment and product safety director Susan Iliefski-Janols looks at the latest trends in sustainability and how these are impacting on industry
The public has only relatively recently altered its focus from concern for the environment to the more complete concept of sustainability, and key issues are constantly developing to combine new challenges. For example, topics such as CFCs and acid rain, which were of major concern in the past, have largely been replaced by more current issues such as climate change and the water crisis. The issue of CFCs in the atmosphere used to be of grave concern.
CFCs (Chloroflourocarbons) were first created in 1928 as non-toxic, non-flammable refrigerants that were used in a range of commercial applications including aerosols. CFC-containing aerosol sprays were banned in the 1970s when it was discovered that CFCs caused damage to the ozone layer. This ban went further in the latest revision of the Montreal Protocol in 1992, when a planned phaseout of CFCs in other applications was signed by more than 100 nations.
Similarly, the furore around acid rain – caused by sulphur and nitrogen compounds from energy, factories and cars – was a major topic of concern in the past. Now that nitrogen oxide emissions are better regulated and many coal-burning power plants use modern technology to remove sulphur-containing gases, the issue of acid rain has become less urgent in the developed world.
A drop in water supplies
Two of today’s pressing environmental issues are climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions globally to prevent the increased creation of greenhouse gases. Another, increasingly urgent environmental challenge concerns one of our most vital resources – that of fresh water. Tensions have already been rising between neighbouring countries over the shortage of fresh water. For example, disputes have arisen between India and Pakistan over their respective shares of the western rivers that provide both countries with water. The UN believes that Yemen will become the first nation to run out of water, possibly as soon as 2015.
The manufacture of tissue requires large amounts of water, but any potential environmental impact this may have can be dramatically reduced by installing modern water treatment systems that allow process water to be reused. This helps to conserve freshwater reserves while also significantly decreasing emissions to water via waste water.
At SCA our water target is to reduce fresh water use by 15% and to reduce the organic content in our waste water by 30% between 2005-2010. By the end of 2009 our water consumption had decreased by 4.9% while organic content of wastewater had reduced by 40% – exceeding the company’s target by 25% a year earlier than expected.
Tracking footprints
Another environmental movement is the increasing awareness of the environmental footprint of activities and products. The environmental impact of a product is normally measured by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This includes the total environmental impact of a product’s life cycle including: Production of raw materials and products, usage, how it is transported and how it is treated once its useful life is over.
Calculating a product’s environmental impact can potentially help to reduce emissions along the supply chain, and this is how we are using it for Tork products. At SCA we have a good understanding of our own processes and supply chain, and have identified the relevant environmental impact areas. Besides our water targets we also have a CO2 target to reduce emissions from fossil fuels by 20% by 2020 using 2005 as a base year. We are also actively working with energy efficiency in the common SCA network E-save. So far a total of 500 ‘E-SAVE’ projects have eliminated 72,000 tonnes of CO2 and saved 340 GWh of electric consumption annually since 2002.
We have two other key sustainability targets: we intend that all fresh fibre-based material used in our production processes should come from sustainable sources, and we aim to ensure 100% compliance of our Code of Conduct among employees and suppliers. This sets out standards for business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The world’s sustainability focus is constantly changing in line with the growing understanding of human impact and the natural balance that needs to be achieved. We believe any steps that companies take to improve this understanding – and to demonstrate their sustainability to customers - should therefore be applauded.
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