Sustainability:
We will grow our business profitably, responsibly and safely while protecting the environment, making wise use of our natural resources, and giving back to our communities.
Operations
At Smurfit-Stone, our policy is to protect the environment by sourcing wood and paper products from responsibly managed, sustainable forests meeting requirements of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), an independent organization for forest certification.
While Smurfit Stone does not directly own any timberland, our sustainable forestry efforts are focused on a certified procurement system that supplies fiber to our facilities. 100% of our US mills and corrugated box plants utilize the SFI certified procurement system.
Energy Utilization & Generation
Smurfit-Stone has reduced direct energy consumption by 19.6% and indirect consumption by 14.3% since our baselines measured from 1999 to 2001. We have achieved these reductions by improving operations and practices throughout the company. For example, new evaporator systems and use of biomass in our mills are enabling fuel consumption reductions and boiler retirement.
Water Protection
Smurfit-Stone’s stewardship of water is different from most industries; we actually return this precious resource to the environment. After using water to cool machinery and process wood fibers into pulp, paper and paperboard products, our mills cycle the water through primary and secondary treatment processes and then discharge it to “receiving” waters.
This discharge is closely regulated by the EPA for Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS), two measures that determine the safety of the water for fish and other aquatic life. In the past two years, Smurfit-Stone has reduced BOD and TSS by more than 2%, in the past 4 years by 12% and since 1995, BOD by more than 60 percent and TSS by more than 40%. As a participant in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program, we also keep our waters clean by supporting streamside management zones and other sound forest management practices.