Metsä Group establishes a conservation foundation

Those figures get worse for millennials – the demographic driving the boom in food delivery ­– with 66% of 18-24 year olds not realising that food packaging tainted with food or an excess of grease can’t be put into the recycling bin (against 34% who knew). Considering that Domino’s sold over half a million pizzas in just one night last December, that’s potentially a lot of cardboard that cannot be recycled. According to the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), empty pizza boxes are fully recyclable, as long as there are no food residues. They add that if more than 50% of the packaging is heavily stained, it may be better suited for other options. Similarly, The Recycling Association say that official guidelines allows stained pizza boxes to be collected and recycled via the municipal waste stream, but food particles are not permissible. To help the problem, Deliveroo have produced 100,000 biodegradable greaseproof paper inserts for the pizza restaurants that use its service. These inserts will catch any food left from the pizza and prevent excess amounts of grease soaking into the base of the box. Click Read More below for additional detail.

The SAFAS Regional Scheme has been submitted to PEFC for assessment. The public consultation, which is your chance to give your feedback on this new regional system, will run from 5 May to 4 July 2025. SAFAS has expanded its forest certification system to become a regional system for Southern Africa. By providing the policy framework and administrative support, the regional system will enable other Southern African countries to develop their national sustainable forest management standard and achieve PEFC endorsement by joining the regional system. In addition, SAFAS has revised its national sustainable forest management standard to ensure its forest management standard is up-to-date and continues to meet stakeholder demands and expectations.

"This is a major step forward in our environmental efforts to reduce CO?emissions and make us less dependent on fossil fuels," says Johan Jonsson, Head of Södra Skogsplantor. The process to changeover Södra's nursery in Flåboda to fossil-free operation commenced three years ago. The goal has now been achieved, with boilers fuelled with vegetable oils, greenhouses heated by four pellet boilers, green electricity generated by Södra's pulp mills and vehicles that run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).