Humans are driving an unprecedented loss of flora and fauna, prompting fears that we are in the midst of a sixth great extinction event, with one third of all species in the wild facing threat of extinction. Speaking at the World Economic Forum today, Aida Greenbury, Chief of Sustainability of Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP), made the case for why global leaders need to see people as the solution rather than as the problem, and work together to empower communities to build a sustainable economy that will help to safeguard the environment and biodiversity at the same time. She was speaking alongside Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International; Patrick Brown, Founder and CEO of Impossible Foods; and Dominic Waughray, Head of Public-Private Partnership and Member of the Executive Committee of the WEF, at an event looking at the prospect of the Sixth Great Extinction. click Read More below for additional detail

A recent article in The New York Times, (“Maine Will Make Companies Pay for Recycling. Here’s How It Works.” 7/21/21) explored Maine’s dramatic new recycling law. But it also missed the point on paper recycling. In a letter to the editor, AF&PA responded to set the record straight: Telling readers the U.S. “recycling rate for plastics and paper products” is 32 percent is like telling them the average elevation of Denver and Death Valley is about half a mile. It may be technically true, but it clouds over more than it reveals. Whatever is true of plastic, the fact is that for all paper, the recycling rate was 66 percent in 2020. The recycling rate for paper-based packaging specifically—like cardboard boxes and corrugated containers—was a whopping 89 percent. In fact, more paper is recycled by weight from municipal waste streams than plastic, glass, steel and aluminum combined. In the context of a story about proposals in several jurisdictions that would turn our current recycling system on its head, these distinctions matter a great deal. Extended producer responsibility programs would disrupt the most effective recycling streams in the interest of improving the least effective, while imposing large new costs on producers who are already being responsible by investing capital to innovate and use a highly renewable and recyclable material—paper.

As part of its commitment to its ambitious 2030 Sustainability strategy, Huhtamaki submitted a series of Climate Change mitigation targets in 2020. These have now been approved and validated by the global recognized Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Huhtamaki is committed to limiting the global temperature rise to well-below 2°C in its operations and value chain and will reduce its direct and electricity greenhouse gas emissions by 27.5% by 2030 and greenhouse gas emissions from its product end-of-life by 13.5% also by the same timeframe. The targets are key stepping blocks to Huhtamaki being able to deliver on its 2030 Strategy and its ambition to become the first choice in sustainable packaging solutions. Sustainability lies at the center of Huhtamaki’s 2030 Strategy and setting science-based reduction targets and aiming for carbon neutral production are an important part of the Company’s 2030 sustainability ambition, published in March 2020. The Science Based Targets initiative has now approved Huhtamaki’s emission reduction targets.