Conversations around recycling and the perils of landfills at capacity are now mainstream for both consumers and businesses. But it’s not all negative – in fact, a lot of productive conversations are happening around opportunities in this space.
By now, it’s no secret that surface-level environmental promises aren’t enough to satisfy consumers. More and more, businesses are looking for real sustainability strategies that have a meaningful impact through the entire supply chain.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Forbes’ Erik Kobayashi-Solomon while at GreenBiz’s Circularity ‘19 conference – the largest circular economy event in North America. We were featured in his piece on Two Companies Innovating With Every Fiber, highlighting the companies making a mark with their circular economy innovations, including both Rolland and our sister company, Sustana Fiber.
Along with showing how Sustana Fiber makes recycling food and beverage packaging into new products achievable, he also details how Rolland has built sustainability into our papermaking process:
“…Rolland – which uses recycled pulp to create paper – is also on the forefront of sustainability. For example, 93% of its energy at its St. Jerome Quebec plant are provided by biofuels […] and, because its input is recycled fibers, it uses much less water and many fewer harsh chemicals in its manufacturing process.
Also, two of its plants recycle production water 17 times, treats it, and sends it out of the plants cleaner than when it came in. This is an amazing feat, considering that a typical sheet of printer paper made from virgin pulp needs more than three gallons of water in its creation and that pulp and paper plants have long been known for pollution of rivers and lakes.”
We are proud to have the smallest environmental footprint in the industry, and these are just a few of the highlights that our customers appreciate as they build credible sustainability strategies that span the whole supply chai
Read more about Erik’s take on innovation in fiber and the circular economy on Forbes.
Published Jul 18, 2019 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT / 9pm BST / 10pm CEST
Sr VP Sales & Marketing
Renée Yardley serves as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sustana Group — a leader in sustainable, recycled fibers and paper products.