MechChem Africa May-June 2021

Global sustainability and progress for forestry industries

T heInternationalCouncilofForestandPaperAs- sociations (ICFPA) has just released its biennial SustainabilityProgressReport,whichhighlights progress in seven key areas of sustainabil- ity: sustainable forest management; renewable energy; greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions; water use; health and safety; and recycling. The 2021 report alsohighlights the forest products sector’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently representing 18 pulp, paper, wood and fibre-based associations in 28 countries, along with manyglobal pulp, paper andwoodproducers, the ICFPA SustainabilityProgressReportshowsprogressonnearly all of the sector’s performance indicators. “In the face of the biggest health and economic crisis of our lifetimes, we are reminded that the global forestry sector has the potential to address some of our most urgent social, environmental and economic chal- lenges,”notesICFPAPresidentDerekNighbor,whoisthe president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Forestryworkers and forest products are in a unique position to drive our move to a lower-carbon world through sustainable forestmanagement, advanc- ing the forest bioeconomy and recovering more paper and paper-based packaging for recycling,” he says. Key progress on ICFPA’s sustainability performance indicators include: • 52.6% of wood fibre procured in 2019 came from third-partycertifiedsustainably-managedforests,a 41%percent increase fromthe2000baselineyear. • Greenhouse gas emission intensity decreased by 21% from the 2004/2005 baseline year. • The energy share of biomass and other renewable fuels increased to 64.9%, a 12% increase since 2004/2005,whiletotalonsiteenergy intensitywas reduced by 3.3%. • SO 2 emission intensity from on-site combustion sources decreased by 77% from the 2004/2005 baseline year and 38% from the previous report. • Water use intensity decreased by 12.5% from the baseline year. • Investment in health and safety interventions yielded a 30% reduction in the global recordable incident rate from the 2006/2007 baseline, with the annual number of recordable incidents falling to 2.88 per 100 employees. • 59.1% of the paper and paperboard consumed in 2019 was reused by mills to make new products, marking a 12.6% increase in global recycling rates since the year 2000. Commenting on the report, Jane Molony of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), a member of the ICFPA Steering Committee says: “As a sector, both globally and locally, we continue to make

a positive impact and meaningful progress in areas of sustainability, societyandtheeconomy,providingcitizens with a renewable resource in the form of sustainably producedwood,celluloseandpaperproducts.Woodinits various formsnotonlymeetsessentialdailyneeds, italso provides a rawmaterial for conventional and innovative alternatives for sustainable packaging.” Also highlighted in the report is the role the forest products industry plays in climate change mitigation, through a four-pronged approach: preserving and opti- mising carbon sequestration in forests and forest-based products; reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy-efficientoperations;avoidingemissionsbysubsti - tuting fossil fuels inseveral industries; andusingcarbon- neutral biomass energy inmanufacturing processes. Progress intheseareas ismeasuredusingmetrics list- edabove, including:GHGemissionintensity;percentage gains in bioenergy and renewable fuel use; total on-site energy intensity; andSO 2 emissions intensity–andall of these are shownmoving in the right direction. The 2021 ICFPASustainability Progress Report also includes the 2021 International Finalists for the presti- gious ICFPABlueSkyYoungResearchersandInnovation Award. The theme for the 2020-2021 Blue Sky Awards was: Boosting the Forest Bioeconomy: Nature-Based Solutions Toward a Lower Carbon Economy. Finalist Francine Ceccon Claro from Brazil devel- oped a low cost wound dressing manufactured using nanofibrillatedwoodcellulosemembranes,which is less expensivethanbacterialcellulosemembranesusedintra- ditional dressings,whileofferingthesameeffectiveness. Another young finalist, Jesús Rodríguez from Chilé, developed FLEXbio, a biodegradable and compostable bioplastic derived from Radiata pine sawdust, a wood by-productgeneratedby loggingcompaniesthatdiscard it in large quantities, where it piles up in company yards creating fire risks along with soil and groundwater con - tamination problems. In this issue of MechChem Africa , we have Chris Braybrooke talking about howVeolia has embraced the UN’s sustainabledevelopment goals (SDGs); SRK’sAvril Owens talking about planning andharmonising sustain- ability efforts across Africa; Zest WEG’s Fanie Steyn talking about the energy efficiency advantages ofWEG IE4superpremiumefficiencymotors;andour Innovative Engineering story for thismonth is about a newbioplas- tic production plant in Finland that will be using waste residues fromsoy-based food production as feedstock. Sustainability and circular economy principles are now a survival imperative, not just for life on our planet, but for the businesses and industries that we humans depend on. Ultimately, embracing them is essential to ensure that our industries and lifestyles remain sustainable. q

Peter Middleton

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