Billerud’s annual and sustainability report 2024

“No economic growth is good for a country if it stays in the hands of the few. The same applies for forestry,” said Tiina Huvio, Chair of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) Steering Committee, and Programme Director for the Finnish Agri-agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD). “To build sustainable wealth, you need to include smallholders in the value chain. Steps taken towards group certification, allowing small-size forest owners to participate, are also steps towards a stable society.” Click read more below for additional detail.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) today announced that 65.7 percent of paper consumed in the United States was recycled in 2020, maintaining a recycling rate that has been consistently high for over a decade. Since 2009, paper recycling has met or exceeded 63 percent—nearly double the rate the U.S. paper industry achieved in 1990. Meanwhile, U.S. mill consumption of old corrugated containers (OCC) reached a record level in 2020 of 22.8 million tons. The recycling rate for OCC was 88.8 percent, and the three-year average was 92.4 percent. “In an unprecedented and dynamic year defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, almost two-thirds of paper was recycled and transformed into new sustainable paper products,” said AF&PA President and CEO Heidi Brock. “The resilience and commitment of our industry is notable, as is engagement of consumers in the paper recycling process. The result is a consistent and high rate for paper recycling.”

Worker safety continues to be a top priority for AF&PA members. Their commitment to safety is demonstrated in a variety of ways: through worker training programs, increased automation, adopting a host of injury-preventive measures and safeguards, and developing new equipment to keep workers safe. Because any injuries to our industry’s employees are not acceptable, AF&PA members adopted a visionary Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 goal of working towards zero injuries and measuring progress toward that vision by further improving our incidence rate by 25 percent from 2006 to 2020. Between 2006 and 2014, the incidence rate for member companies declined by 40.8 percent to 1.56. The 2014 incidence rate for manufacturing at large was 4.0 in 2014, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, more than double the rate of AF&PA members. (The incident rate measures the number of recordable cases for 100 people working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks.)