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THE ENVIRONMENTAL CASE FOR PAPER
HENRY COPPENS
Sappi emissions and energy technical specialist
•
Riddle #1
WOW Factors
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Riddle #2! - a thing, device, machine, giant factory?
WOW factors
Makes own energy
Guzzles Carbon Dioxide
Can Re-use its product
Outputs (products, waste) biodegradable
Contributor to Life itself
Quarter mile times
What is this ‘THING’ ?
A perpetual motion device ?
Almost – anyway, the nearest you’ll ever get to one
Sappi, Mondi
Plantations
The Sappi Story
• Straw
• WWII – raw material shortages
• Build its own machine
• Starting from a base of zero resources.
• Amazing example of zero based raw material development not reliant
on a natural door step resource
• Amazing by-products
LET’S EXPAND ON THE WOW FACTORS
1. Makes own energy
Nearly 50 % of the energy used to make paper by Sappi & Mondi comes from
the raw material – the wood chips
This means this energy is:
 It’s renewable
 Non -fossil
 Carbon neutral
Wow Factors
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WOW factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Makes own energy
Guzzles GHGs/ LOCKS UP Carbon
Re-uses its output
Outputs (product, wastes) biodegradable
Contributor to Life itself
Quarter mile times
2. GUZZLES GHGs
• BIOMASS cultivation is the ONLY means we have to clean up the GHG mess
• Trees are the most efficient species at doing this
• Our plantations have specially developed trees that are 6 - 10 times more
efficient at doing this than the trees of the northern boreal forests, tropical
forests
• This ‘machine’ that our industry has built is one of the largest built and
developed GHG clean-up devices in the world.
2. GUZZLES GHGs (cont.)
• Our paper mills draw wood from this huge machine! – 1 200 000ha plantations
• This ‘machine’ absorbs 27 million tonnes CO2 annually – 1 kg/hr
• This ‘machine’ produces 19 million tonnes O2 annually – 600 kg/hr
• No other man made type of machine comes anywhere close to doing this!!!
•If it were not for the forestry industry world wide operating
over 150 years the GHG level in the atmosphere would be
5% higher than it is at present.
USA National Council for Air And Stream Improvement
2. GUZZLES GHGs (cont.)
• The BIG difference between Forestry industry and virtually all other:
• ITS ABILITY TO TAKE UP CARBON FROM THE ATMOSPHERE
• AND LOCK IT UP.
• Other industries certainly lock up carbon but this is – fossil carbon – a limited
resource.
• Sugar industry nearest, but they don’t lock up for very long, can’t recycle sugar
• When lock up of this carbon ends, as it eventually will – where does it go –
INTO THE ATMOSPHERE.
2. GUZZLES GHGs
• CARBON FOOTPRINT (tonne CO2/tonne product)
•Check on boundary conditions: We use CRADLE to GATE
but take into account final fate of paper
Manufacturing
(Raw/recycled)
Final Fate
Plastic
Paper
Raw Material Prod’n
* Based on 1.75t petroleum per ton of polyethylene produced.
Total Fossil
CO 2 Release
2.97 t CO2
per ton
Product
5.3t CO2
per ton
*
polyethylene
million tonne CO2 eq/y
-20
-40
-80
-100
-120
-60
Ref NCASI Special
Report 07-09
40
20
0
Total
Sequestrations
Carbon in
Forests
Carbon in Forest
Products
2005
Total
Emissions
Only these go into the
C.F. value
Methane from forests,
landfills
Non-fibre inputs
Transport
Manufacturing,
Indirect
60
Manufacturing,
Direct
Canadian Forest Products Industry
3. Re-uses its input
WOW factors
WOW factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Makes own energy
Guzzles GHGs
Re-uses its output
Outputs (product, wastes) biodegradable
Contributor to Life itself
Quarter mile times
3. Re-uses its input
•Up to 80% of kraft packaging paper in SA is recovered for recycling
•We consumes almost 3.5 million tonnes of waste paper
•Sappi has one entire paper mill that ONLY uses recycled paper
•Recycled paper has zero carbon footprint
•Paper fibre can be recycled up to 6-7 times.
•Unlike other materials, paper waste needs no segregation before recycle
processing. Simply put it all in the same pot and make paper
•Waste paper collection is a significant player in the informal labour sector –
benefiting thousands of otherwise unemployed people.
Wow Factors
•
WOW factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Makes own energy
Guzzles GHGs
Re-uses its output
Outputs (product, wastes) biodegradable
Cause of Life itself
Quarter mile times
4. Biodegradation
• All paper products biodegrade readily
•When they do they do not harm the environment
•Paper does contribute as a species of
‘Our National Flower’.
Wow Factors
•
WOW factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Makes own energy
Guzzles GHGs
Re-uses its output
Outputs (product, wastes) biodegradable
Contributor to Life itself
Quarter mile times
5. Contributor to Life itself
•The CO2 that the plantations absorb and O2 produce is what sustains life
•We only have one atmosphere
•To continue sustaining life, especially in the age of fossil fuel gluttony we need
to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
• We can reduce by 10% without affecting life
style, but to go greater than this – what is necessary to reverse climate
change – is very difficult since we are so dependent on fossil fuels.
5. Contributor to Life itself (cont.)
• We can develop CO2 storage/absorption systems like ocean storage, disused
mine CO2 absorption.
• All very expensive and far from being operational
•THERE IS A BETTER WAY, A MUCH BETTER WAY
•PLANT MORE TREES!
•How do we do this?
•Commercially is best – create a demand for more trees
•How do we do this?
•Create a demand for paper products!
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5. Contributor to Life itself (cont.)
WATER USE
Two prime users
 Plantation water use
 Paper making process water use
5. Contributor to Life itself (cont.)
PLANTATION WATER USE
• Compare plantations with other cultivated agriculture – NOT with indigenous
forests
• Sappi plantations may look like forests – but they are an exotic cultivated
agricultural commodity like virtually all SA agriculture - maize, wheat, cabbages,
fruit etc
• Sappi plantations divert more rainfall back to the atmosphere (evaporation) than
to streams when compared to other agriculture BUT
5. Contributor to Life itself
(cont.)
• To make all other SA agriculture sustainable, vast expenditure is required on
agriculture support and infrastructure (fertiliser, insecticides, dams, canals,
etc - all of which are not required for Sappi plantations
• This is because Sappi plantations NEED NO IRRIGATION.
• All moisture is derived naturally. (80 – 85% of SA agriculture is dependent on
irrigation).
• Sappi plantations are thus far closer to being naturally independently
sustainable that virtually any other SA agricultural product or commodity.
5. Contributor to Life itself (cont)
PAPER PROCESS WATER USE
2.7% of SA water is used in the process of paper
manufacture.
Water use by sector in S.A.
4.1%
Irrigation
2.7%
2%
Domestic & Urban
6%
Mining and
Industry
23%
Power generation
62.2%
Paper
Manufacture
Rural use
WOW Factors
•
WOW factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Makes own energy
Guzzles GHGs
Re-uses its output
Outputs (product, wastes) biodegradable
Contributor to Life itself
Quarter mile times
6. Quarter mile times
• Talking about tree growth
• Traditional fibre sources are the northern hemisphere temperate and boreal
forests and the tropic forests. They can take up to 100 years to be ready as
pulp wood.
• The trees in our plantations are ready after 7 (gum) to 12 years (pine).
times faster than the prime source of paper fibre in the northern hemisphere
• So they produce fibre 8 – 13 times faster than forests in the northern
hemisphere.
• So they are 8 – 13 times faster at absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen.
•All this at approx 1/6th the land area of Northern Hemisphere &
Tropical forests.
Conclusion
Carbon contained in
raw material
Carbon
used
manufacturing
Paper
100% renewable –
carbon neutral when
burned
Other (glass,
plastic, metal)
Not renewable –
increases carbon in
the atmosphere
when burned
in
Recyclability
Biodegradability
Almost 50% derived
from renewable
100% recyclable,
55% recovery rate
for paper in SA, 80%
recovery rate for
kraft papers
Biodegrades without
harming soil or water
0% derived from
renewable energy
Recycling rate in SA
25 % for glass and
32% for plastic.
Plastic needs to be
segregated.
Neither plastic nor glass
biodegrade readily. Plastic
can take up to 1,000 years
to biodegrade. When plastic
photo-degrades, it causes
harm to soil and water.
Conclusion
Where to we fit in?
Conclusion
• Be part of the Climate change SOLUTION – not part of the Problem
•We are one of the few industries whose business is naturally aligned to climate
change remediation.
•Thanks to its forestry operations and its use of renewable energy our industry in
SA is right up there as one of the very few , if not the best, that is most aligned
to the Climate Change Solution in the world.
•THANK YOU!!!! Any questions?.
Conclusion
•One more thing!!!!
• “Please consider the environment before printing this e-Mail……………”
•GO AHEAD - PRINT A MILLION OF THE DAMN THINGS!!! And do your bit
for cleaning up the atmosphere and the environment.
•THANK YOU!!!! Any questions?.