At a site where monks once fished for salmon, where the Örekil River joins the Gullmar Fjord, the enterprise today known as Arctic Paper Munkedals AB was founded in 1871. The Örekil River and the Gullmar Fjord run through one of the most beautiful natural areas on the west coast of Sweden: a landscape that gradually changed into a rural landscape.
For many decades no one worried about the paper production’s effect on this nature resource with its rich animal life. But eventually the water became less clear and the fish became more scarce. A similar development could be observed in the lake system where our other mill Håfreströms was situated at Åsensbruk in Dalsland.
In the nineteen sixties it became obvious that the emissions from paper production were a threat to the environment. This strong warning was the beginning of our long-term commitment. The mills of Arctic Paper were among the first to take measures to prevent paper production’s impact on nature.
In 1966 we stopped producing our own pulp at Munkedals. Throughout the years, as our new insights grew, our knowledge and experience went into developing processes to reduce unwanted environmental effects.
In the course of time we found ways of reducing our use of water and energy. In the eighties we introduced biochemical processes to clean our process water. In the nineties we were the first to launch chlorine-free coated paper.
In the same era our Group acquired the Kostrzyn mill, close to the Warta and Oder rivers in Poland. Since then the Kostrzyn mill’s environmental work has been developed in several levels and now has a leading position in Poland. Recently the new heat and power plant, fuelled by gas, was opened to replace the old coal-based plant.
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The Håfreström mill also engaged early in developing methods for reducing energy consumption, emissions to air and for purifying the process water. In Håfreström we introduced a three-step biochemical process for treating wastewater. The purified wastewater is discharged into Lake Nedre Upperudshöljen where a continuous water recipient analysis is conducted of water samples taken from 25 fixed testing stations in the lake system.
Many of our Group’s efforts have gone into dealing with cleaning and re-using our processed water, and to ensure that the water we put back into nature is fully restored. This process can be studied, for example, at our Environmental Centre in Munkedals. The exhibition hall is next to the large ponds that are the final stage of purification. Here we invite customers, school classes and others who want to learn more about environmental care.
The Munkedals mill is now one of the most environmentally friendly paper mills in the world. In addition to low water consumption the mill has some of the lowest discharge figures in the industry. Where other fine paper mills use 16 litres of water to make one kilo of paper, we now use less than 3 litres. Year by year our emissions into the fjord have been reduced and the water we let back now carries hardly any particles.
As a result of all the measures taken, many qualities of the fjord have regained their previous status. Again the Gullmar Fjord is a place where salmon and seagulls enjoy freedom, clean water and fresh air. |
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