Iggesund Boxing Clever on Environment

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 11/01/2011

Iggesund Paperboard is currently spending €361 million to transform the energy systems at its mills at Iggesund, Sweden and Workington, England. The company is installing the latest energy technology so that both mills can operate exclusively on biofuel. "We're increasing efficiency and ensuring our long-term energy supply," explains Guy Mallinson, director of sales to the graphic and packaging sector in Europe. "In this context it's natural for us to move to bioenergy because there's a risk that fossil fuels will become scarcer and more expensive in the future, not least due to political targets for lower fossil carbon emissions." 'When the investments are complete, Iggesund will almost certainly have the two paperboard mills with the lowest fossil carbon emissions in the world,' said a recent press note. 'So far, though, this biofuel focus has not overtly affected customers' commercial preferences.' "We're not seeing that customers are choosing materials based on our environmental work or our low carbon emissions," Mallinson said. "However, major brand owners are insisting on getting information about our carbon footprint, even though they're not yet communicating that information any further. But their interest does indicate that a good environmental record could become a stronger selection criterion in the future." Iggesund, which sells its flagship product Invercote in more than 100 countries, has noticed that the environmental debate differs around the world. "In Britain people talk almost solely about carbon footprint, in the States the focus is on how much recycled content that companies can mix into their products, while in Asia, people are keen that the origins of raw materials are both documented and environmentally sound," Mallinson said. "But of course, we can't let the current debate in any particular part of the world govern our environmental efforts. We must take a comprehensive, broad-based environmental approach, regardless of what happens to be high profile news in the media yesterday, today or tomorrow." Iggesund Paperboard produces Invercote, a solid bleached board, at its mill in Sweden. In England the company makes Incada, a high-quality folding boxboard. "All our paperboard products are made exclusively of virgin fibre," Mallinson added. "It gives us the best performance in terms of how much material is required to protect the packaged product. And of course there is absolutely no worry in terms of hygiene and purity - factors that are becoming more and more important. "The big advantage of virgin fibre is that we know where it comes from and what properties it has, which is unfortunately not always the case with recycled fibre." Enditem