Isramart : Iggesund’s vision: Manufacturing without fossil CO2 emissions

Isramart news:
WorldPressOnline First Call - During 2009 Iggesund Paperboard has reduced its emissions of fossil carbon dioxide by 65 per cent at Iggesunds Bruk, where the company’s flagship product, Invercote, is made. The reduction by 63,000 tonnes corresponds to the emissions from 17,500 cars per year.
“Even before this move our business operations are already highly robust and sustainable,” adds Guy Mallinson, Business Director Sales at Iggesund. “Almost 95 per cent of Iggesunds Bruk’s current energy consumption is from biofuels and we only have one more investment step left before our vision – of a paperboard mill totally free of fossil CO2 – will be a reality.”

FIRST CLASS PRODUCTS
The major reduction in Iggesund Bruk’s CO2 emissions have been implemented during 2009. It comes from a combination of energy savings plus investments in increased capacity for biofuel use. Mallinson emphasises, though, that the measures are not primarily motivated by the media’s intense focus on carbon emissions:
“We can’t respond in a short-term, erratic way, like public opinion sometimes does. In accordance with our long-term approach to the environment, we evaluate environmental aspects when making every investment decision. But our job – and there is no contradiction involved – is to deliver a first-class product at a competitive price.”

MINIMAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
For decades now Iggesund has been implementing a long-term environmental programme at Iggesunds Bruk. The company’s energy supply is based on heat from Iggesund’s own production process plus electricity, almost half of which is also produced by the company. Today over 90 per cent of this electricity comes from biofuel, and soon the mill will also be self-sufficient in electricity. With regard to heat, Iggesunds Bruk produces a surplus. As well as being used in the production process, the heat is also used to dry timber in a nearby sawmill and to heat almost 1000 homes in the local village.
”It’s unfortunate that public environmental opinion tends to focus on one particular issue at a time, when industries are forced by necessity to see the overall picture,” Mallinson says. “Here at Iggesund Paperboard we’re not just good at cutting carbon dioxide emissions, we’re a world leader when it comes to operating a major process industry with minimal environmental impact.”

Caption:
“Our goal is to be self-sufficient in electricity and independent of fossil fuel,” comments Guy Mallinson of Iggesund Paperboard. In 2009 the company’s fossil CO2 emissions from the manufacture of Invercote have been cut by an amount equivalent to the annual emissions from 17,500 cars.