Iggesund Paperboard, the Swedish manufacturer of the famous Invercote - a bleached high quality board designed to pack consumer goods requiring high graphic performances - recently announced being close to stop emissions of fossil carbon dioxide at its Iggesunds Bruk location.
The major reduction in Iggesund Bruk’s carbon dioxide emissions have been implemented during 2009. It comes from a combination of energy savings, and reuse of the heat from Iggesund’s own production process, plus investments in increased capacity for biofuel use. The results: emissions of fossil carbon dioxide by 65 per cent at Iggesunds Bruk, where the company’s flagship product, Invercote, is made. According to Iggesund, the reduction by 63,000 tonnes corresponds to the emissions from 17,500 cars per year.
“Almost 95 per cent of Iggesunds Bruk’s current energy consumption is from biofuels and we only have one more investment step left before our vision - of a paperboard mill totally free of fossil carbon dioxide - will be a reality,” Guy Mallinson, Business Director Sales at Iggesund, explains.
Mallinson emphasises, though, that the measures are not primarily motivated by the media’s intense focus on carbon emissions. Actually, for Iggesund its is mainly a long term cost-reduction strategy, within the perspective of an unavoidable rise of the prices of fossil energy.
“We can’t respond in a short-term, erratic way, like public opinion sometimes does. In accordance with our long-term approach to the environment, we evaluate environmental aspects when making every investment decision. But our job - and there is no contradiction involved - is to deliver a first-class product at a competitive price.”
