Graphic Dimensions Joins Two Sides

UPS announced an agreement with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to purchase 170 million gallon equivalents of renewable natural gas (RNG) through 2026. This is the largest commitment for use of RNG to date by any company in the United States, with a range of 22.5 - 25 million gallon equivalents per year. RNG is a key part of UPS’s strategy to increase alternative fuel consumption to be 40% of total ground fuel purchases by 2025, supporting the logistics leader’s efforts to reduce the absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of its ground fleet 12% by 2025. “The world has a trash problem. And the world has an emissions problem. Renewable natural gas, produced naturally from bio sources such as landfills and dairy farms, not only turns trash to gas, but it turns it into clean gas,” said Mike Casteel, UPS director of fleet procurement. “Since RNG is supported by existing national infrastructure used to transport natural gas, it’s a winning solution that will help UPS to reach our ambitious sustainability goals. At the same time, we hope our unprecedented seven-year commitment serves as a catalyst for wider adoption of RNG by other companies.” Click "read more" below for additional information.

Five of the most exciting new advances in paper and pulp, from wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi to a test that can detect cancer. Paper has a great number of advantages when it comes to communication – it’s portable, light, accessible and easy on the eye. But great strides are being made in medicine, technology and construction using this most humble of materials. People may have been reading and writing with it for over two thousand years, but it seems that paper has a lot more to offer. Click "read more" below for additional information.

This month’s Member Spotlight features Rolland Enterprises Inc. A leading North American producer of uncoated papers, Rolland manufactures papers with up to 100% post-consumer content. With operations in Quebec and Wisconsin, the company’s operations include a paper mill and converting facility, as well as two state-of-the-art facilities that produce premium recycled pulp. Founded in 1882, Rolland’s enduring commitment to quality, innovation and sustainable manufacturing include sustainable sourcing, energy efficiency, water conservation, wastewater treatment technology, recycling of process byproducts and a continuing focus on further reducing its environmental footprint. Rolland uses the life cycle assessment (LCA) process to guide its sustainability improvement objectives and makes the results of its LCAs public, confirming the company’s environmental stewardship to its many stakeholders. For example, an LCA identified a gap in the company’s water consumption which enabled it to improve its water recycling systems. Today, Rolland’s paper mill has a closed-loop system that uses six times less water and recycles the water 30 times. One of the company’s most successful environmental innovations is the use of 93% renewable biogas energy to manufacture products at its paper mill — the only mill in North America to use primarily biogas for energy. An eight-mile-long pipeline feeds the mill with purified methane gas captured at a nearby landfill. This reduces Rolland’s annual CO2 footprint by 70,000 tons or the equivalent of taking 23,400 compact cars off the road for one year.