The Covid-19 pandemic may have changed working habits and the way we interact with others, but the climate emergency has remained constant even as the world goes into lockdown. At a time of crisis, it can be easy to forget the net-zero pledges that companies and countries across the world have committed to over the past few years, but they still stand, reminding us that reducing our impact on the environment is more important than ever. One way of doing so is through the circular economy, with one of its key pillars to keep materials in use for as long as possible, thereby reducing the need for virgin materials and, ultimately, limiting the excessive consumption of resources.

Construction is underway on the Kingsport Mill’s old corrugated container warehouse. The project is yet another example of circular economy principles in action. When the former paper mill’s conversion into Domtar’s first 100 percent-recycled packaging facility is complete late next year, the warehouse will be an important part of its central nervous system. Each year, approximately 660,000 tons of recycled boxes and other kinds of mixed recycled paper used to produce new recycled packaging products will pass through the warehouse. Every aspect of the warehouse was planned with sustainability and circular economy principles in mind, including its location (close to the intersection of Interstate 26 and Interstate 81), the highly efficient industrial vehicles patrolling its interior, and the very concrete on which it is being built.

APP is one of the biggest pulp and paper companies in the world, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It manufactures about 18 million tonnes of paper products a year and sells them into 120 countries. And it is a company that has faced a number of run-ins with the NGO community over its practices, with Greenpeace its most vocal critic once labelling APP the world’s "worst destroyer of pristine forest". In 2011, Greenpeace ramped up its campaign against APP when it targeted the LA headquarters of the toy company Mattel – a huge buyer of packaging from APP – unveiling a huge poster across the front of the building featuring Ken dumping Barbie (made by Mattel) with the slogan, "Barbie: It's over. I don't date girls that are into deforestation.” APP had to act. And act it did; in an extraordinary turn of events, APP and Greenpeace teamed up to work together on a new zero deforestation policy for the business. In early 2013, Greenpeace promised it would suspend active campaigning, after three years of continuous protest against the business.