Arctic Paper

05/09/2008

The road to the most environmentally friendly mill in the world

Today, everyone talks about climate change and environmental damage. But at Arctic Paper’s paper mill in Munkedal, work for sustainable development is nothing new.

“We have been working for a better environment since the 1960s and each year we take another step in that direction,” says Göran Lindqvist, MD of Arctic Paper Munkedals AB.

The paper mill has been in Munkedal in Bohuslän County since 1871. The area is described as one of West Sweden’s most beautiful conservation areas, thickly forested and where the marine nature reserve at the Gullmar Fjord meets the Örekil River. For the 4000 or so inhabitants the proximity to swimming and fishing is a pleasure and the river contains salmon and other species of fish. But this was not always the case.

“In the past, no one thought about what effect a paper mill might have on the environment and that led to animal life in the Örekil River starting to die out. We realised that something drastic had to be done and decided to be the first paper mill to take the step towards sustainable development”, says Göran Lindqvist.

As early as 1966 Munkedals stopped producing its own pulp and since then has purchased pulp produced in a more environmentally friendly way. In the years that followed reductions have been made in the consumption of water and energy. In the 1980s biochemical processes were introduced to clean the water that had been used in the processing. This significantly reduced emissions of environmentally damaging organic materials.

During the ’90s Munkedals was among the first paper mills to launch a chlorine-free, uncoated paper and since 2003 all the paper qualities manufactured in the factory are made from pulp that has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The certificate is an international environmental standard and guarantees that the pulp originates from sustainable forestry.

“Caring for the environment is important to us and we have come a long way in our work. But one must never forget that it is an ongoing process, which can be continuously improved and developed,” says Göran Lindqvist.

Every year the mill in Munkedal continues the work to further reduce its environmental impact, among other methods by reusing the water in production as much as possible. Today, the mill uses less than three litres of water to make one kilogram of paper. It is the lowest figure in the entire paper industry and can be compared to other paper mills that usually require 10–15 litres of water to manufacture the equivalent amount of paper.

“Right now we are reviewing our energy consumption and checking how the electric motors can be adjusted in the best way using speed control. Every year we go through our chemicals to see whether any of them can be exchanged with variants that have less environmental impact. Scientists are always gaining new knowledge about environmental damage and we must be careful to adapt accordingly,” says Göran Lindqvist.

In order to demonstrate the environmental work, an Environmental centre has been built at the paper mill. The Centre consists of a park with over 400 different plants, flowers and trees. The park also contains aerated ponds that are part of the mill’s cleaning process, where the used water is cleaned before being released into the Gullmar Fjord via the Örekil River. The principles of the cleaning process can be seen in a house that was built in the park in 2003.

“We invite customers and other interested parties who want to learn more about how we care for the environment to visit us there. We offer water from the cleaning ponds, which is drinkable after a single filtering, and show how the ponds are home to fish, crayfish, ducks and frogs,” says Göran Lindqvist.

The paper mill in Munkedal is considered to be one of the most environmentally friendly paper mills in the world. The efforts that have been made over nearly 50 years have meant that the salmon have long since returned to the Örekil River and that the surrounding nature is flourishing.

“In the future we hope to realise another goal; to move away from using fossil fuels and instead invest in renewable bio fuels,” says Göran Lindqvist.

For more information: Olle Grundberg, Group CEO of Arctic Paper AB, mobile: +46 (0) 706-54 44 20,   e-mail: olle.grundberg@arcticpaper.com, Göran Lindqvist, MD of Arctic Paper Munkedals AB, telephone/mobile: +46 (0)524-171 24, e-mail: goran.lindqvist@arcticpaper.com

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