Sustainability

Our lean manufacturing principles begin with making only enough paper to meet customer demand. We don't make what we can't sell. We use less, too: less fibre, less energy, less water, less wrap. This creates lighter basis weight mechanical printing papers with more printable surface than comparable freesheet products.

And our mechanical production processes have much better conversion efficiency than the chemical production processes required to make freesheet paper. Chip input weight equals product output weight at our mills.

And the efficiencies don’t stop there. Because of their lighter basis weights, our products go much further. Our Electrastar Max, for example, is an uncoated specialty grade that substitutes very well for much heavier freesheet grades. And the same weight of Electrastar Max not only requires fewer chips to produce in the first place, but also provides close to 20% more printable surface.

More printable surface per tonne means lower transportation and inventory costs. This means you don't have to choose between what's good for your brand, what's good for your budget and what's good for the environment.

At Catalyst, we've reduced our energy consumption. And we've increased our use of renewable sources for the energy we do use. Besides being an industry leader in renewable energy, we've signed the UN Global Compact and have been recognized as being “among the best of the best” for the quality of our response to the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Learn more about our manufacturing process. »

The Paper Life Cycle project promotes greater understanding of key issues across the paper supply chain. It encompasses topics such as climate change, forest management practices, recycling, illegal logging, energy use and product performance. Users can download forest trend reports, white papers, case studies and fact sheets. In addition, Paper Life Cycle offers regular updates and expert opinion on the latest industry news.

A multi-stakeholder initiative developed by Metafore (a program operated by non-profit organization GreenBlue), Paper Life Cycle offers key environmental information about the sourcing, production and use of paper so that buyers of paper and fibre-based products can make better-informed purchasing decisions with an eye to sustainability.

Follow these links to learn more about the life cycle of paper and the environmental considerations of print and digital communications.

thepaperlifecycle.org »
sustainablecommunication.org »

It’s a common — though erroneous — belief that "going paperless" saves trees, and that shifting to digital media is good for the environment. In reality, whole trees make up only a modest proportion of the fibre used to make paper in Canada. And Catalyst has an especially high proportion of sawmill wastes in its fibre mix.

The reality is, all communication methods impact the environment — and the environmental footprint of digital communications can be significantly higher than paper. For example:

A Virtuous Cycle

Not only are Catalyst products largely made from wastes, they are fully recyclable. Paper recovery rates have climbed steadily in the US, where most of our products are sold. Close to 90% of Americans have access to paper recycling programs and two-thirds of the total supply was recovered in 2011.

Source: www.paperrecycles.org
But since recovery will never be 100%, and paper can only be recycled so many times, the supply needs to be continually renewed with “first generation” products. Catalyst helps meet this need – and with a low environmental footprint that not even all recycled mills can match.