UPM Shotton paper mill in north Wales has triumphed at the annual PPI Awards held in Brussels. The Award for Environmental Strategy of the Year for a Mill was given in recognition for UPM Shotton going the extra mile and implementing innovative environmental solutions.
The judges commented: “The importance of environmental issues keeps growing in the pulp and paper industry and this can be clearly seen in the entries we received. The judges felt the winner was a great example of resource efficiency combined with pragmatic strategic planning – securing valuable supply chains for the mill and adding value to the other waste fractions at the same time.”
The judges were looking for a showcase mill that takes all the elements of responsibility into consideration, from sourcing of raw material, minimising impacts, and water energy and resource efficiency.
“Resource scarcity will be a key future issue for everybody and one reason why UPM has focused on material and resource effectiveness – creating more with less is almost a mantra for the company's operations. We have developed innovative ways to reduce our own waste and reuse waste in new products, leading to highly sustainable use of resources. And one of the best examples of the company's thinking and resource effectiveness is the zero waste strategy at Shotton Paper Mill”, says John Sanderson, Director of Environmental Market Support, UPM.
Not only is UPM Shotton mill based on the use of recovered materials, but it aims to use every last bit of those recovered resources to produce products or energy, and to waste nothing. An estimated one million tonnes of renewable & recoverable materials from UK urban conurbations and forests are processed through UPM Shotton every year, and today UPM Shotton utilizes 99.5% of the incoming materials.
UPM’s Biofore vision and consistent work on corporate responsibility has recently gained recognition from different parties. UPM was listed as the only forestry and paper company worldwide in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and also recognized as the ‘Most Innovative Company’ at the 2012 Ethical Corporation Awards. In the Nordic Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index, UPM was ranked in shared first place with top scores. UPM is one of seven paper producers to receive an award from the WWF in the category of ‘Transparency’ during the 2012 WWF Environmental Paper Awards.
Discover what responsibility means to UPM. Learn more on www.upmresponsibility.com
Organized by RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, the PPI Awards program honors leadership, vision, innovation and strategic accomplishments within the pulp and paper industry. The PPI Awards are the only global awards dedicated to recognizing the achievements of companies, mills and individuals in the pulp and paper sector.
For more information about the awards, please go to PPI Awards’ web site.