Lecta: efficient, responsible water management as a priority

SCA has made 50,000 hectares of forest available here for the Forest Facts study. “Digital development is very important to SCA and to forest management in general and we believe it is important to be at the forefront of developments. It was therefore natural that we would provide land for this study. You can compare it with a digital test site,” says Ola Kårén, SCA’s head of forest management. Forest Facts is focusing on establishing new methods for measuring the forest. The main idea is to develop methods that use laser scanning, satellite images and data registered by harvesters.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) recently announced the results of its 2024 Sustainability Awards, and Domtar was among the winners. Our winning project was our water conservation program, which began as a pilot program in 2023. It will save more than 1 billion gallons of water annually and contribute to our goal to reduce water use by 20 percent per unit of product by 2030 (compared to a 2019 baseline). AF&PA’s Leadership in Sustainability — Water Management award recognizes our efforts to reduce our water usage as part of our overarching sustainability goals. “Sustainability is foundational for our members, and our awards program reflects that,” said AF&PA President and CEO Heidi Brock in a recent press release. “These award-winning projects demonstrate sustainability leadership and innovation in action. We are proud to recognize real-world examples of how our forest and paper industry sustainability goals come to life.” We launched our award-winning water conservation program in 2023. We dedicated a portion of capital spending solely for water-reduction projects. This water reduction fund was designed to attract innovative projects and ideas from teams within the Domtar network. Mills could submit proposals for a chance to earn a portion of the available funds. “The projects didn’t need to provide a financial return. The priority was saving water,” explains Brian Kozlowski, senior director of environment and sustainability for Domtar’s Paper and Packaging business unit. “That gave our employees the chance to think beyond the bottom line, and they really did!” The results from 2023 were impressive. The water conservation program completed ten projects at seven mills that will save more than 1 billion gallons of water annually. That’s enough water to fill more than 1,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Lecta has achieved DIN CERTCO industrial compostability certification for its EraCup Natural paperboard, an innovative product for food service applications. Why is this certification important? The certification ensures that compostability claims are scientifically validated and that items are accepted in industrial composting facilities, unlike "biodegradable" products that may not fully degrade. In addition to the recyclability certifications already obtained, this new certification guarantees that the product contributes to the circular economy without leaving any harmful residue.