Environmental Manufacturing Principles
Environmental responsibility starts with manufacturing products that help both our customers and our company reduce impact on the environment.
We are a leader in manufacturing lighter basis weight papers, such as our 43 gsm newsprint and lightweight coated papers. Lower basis weight papers require less fibre to produce than standard weight papers. The result is reduced use of raw materials, chemicals and energy, as well as a lower environmental impact per publication read.
We also pioneered the production of sawdust-based pulp and remain one of the world's few manufacturers of this unique product. The use of sawmill residues is an environmentally sound use of waste materials that were formerly burned or consigned to landfills.
Regulatory Requirements
Many federal and provincial / state regulations govern our paper and pulp manufacturing facilities.
We must obtain permits and follow pertinent legislation for all aspects of air and water emissions, spill reporting, solid and hazardous waste management and contaminated sites. We publicly report on our compliance with permits annually in our Sustainability Report.
In keeping with our environmental policy, we place a strong priority on preventing environmental impact at source. For example, our divisions regularly recycle, reduce and reuse, and we continually look for ways to improve, such as in energy use. In addition, we continuously recycle most of the water, steam and chemicals used in our manufacturing operations.
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Reducing Waste
We're committed to reducing the amount of solid waste we produce and send to landfills. Typical solid waste byproducts at our mills include boiler flyash, lime mud and dregs from the recausticizing process at our pulp operations; sludge from effluent treatment systems; and unusable wood refuse from our fibre supply. We reuse the sludge and wood refuse byproducts for energy production at our mills.
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Safeguarding Water
Primary and secondary effluent treatment systems treat wastewater from our mill operations. Primary treatment reduces solids through settling, while secondary treatment uses microbiological organisms to clean the water.
Our operations are required to meet both federal and provincial / state regulations. We regularly monitor flow, temperature, pH, total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), toxicity to fish and other aquatic organisms, adsorbable organic halides (AOX), dissolved oxygen and conductivity and dioxins and furans in our effluent.
Our BC based manufacturing facilities are participants in Environment Canada's Environmental Effects Monitoring program. Divisions provide information on various water surveys, such as oyster studies at Crofton and Powell River, a shore-based mussel study at Elk Falls and dissolved oxygen and benthic monitoring at Port Alberni. The studies have indicated there is no impact on the environment from mill effluent at normal levels. (More details here.)
For information on our most recent wastewater improvement initiatives and compliance with permits, see our Sustainability Report.
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Air Quality Improvement
Improving air quality and emissions from our mills is a high priority for our company. In 2000, we committed $30 million to air improvement measures at Elk Falls and Crofton divisions and $12 million at Powell River Division.
This included a $20-million wet electrostatic precipitator on the No. 5 power boiler at Elk Falls to reduce particulate emissions by 85 per cent. The new precipitator uses leading-edge technology and has virtually eliminated haze conditions that occured in the nearby community of Campbell River in summer months. It also included $12 million for a new recovery boiler precipitator that has reduced particulate emissions by 75 per cent. As well, $7 million was spent to install an odour collection system at Powell River.
A $13-million investment in a new dilute non-condensable gas collection system at Crofton in early 2001 has reduced odorous emissions from the mill by about 70 per cent. Crofton now surpasses the province's air emission standards and meets the new stringent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
Crofton's $15-million upgrade to control power boiler emissions included completely rebuilding the precipitator's internal electrical equipment in 2001 and installing four new waste wood presses in 2002. The power boiler upgrade successfully reduced fine particulate emissions by 80 per cent.