Current Environmental Performance Of The Pulp And Paper Industry, 1996 Minimum Effluent Mills Symposium Proceedings

Heikki Mannisto, Eva Mannisto, Marten Krogerus - EKONO, Inc.

Environmental performance of the pulp and paper industry has been traditionally controlled through regulation. The market forces, especially in Europe, are becoming dominant factors in the environmental issues. The study performed by the authors’ organization addressed the current environmental performance and variabilities within the North American and Scandinavian pulp and paper industries. The study was based mainly on the performance data available from public sources. The study results show wide variability in the environmental performance of the pulp and paper industry. Since all the milks are normally in compliance with their limits, this variability is caused by the regulations, which vary widely from mill to mill and from country to country. Historically, the U.S. Pulp and Paper Industry has been the leader in controlling the conventional parameters BOD and TSS by using efficient treatment technologies. Some of the nonconventional parameters that are affected by process technologies, such as AOX and COD, are controlled more effectively in Scandinavia. The process technologies used by the mills with the lowest discharges are typically related to pulping and bleaching processes. Although some newer mills report extremely low discharges, most mills will have to do major modifications in order to approach the minimum impact levels or meet the expected future requirements.