Working Towards Ecobalance, 1997 Minimum Effluent Mills Symposium Proceedings

Ecobalance is the objective for STORA’s environmental quality work. STORA’s operations and products are an integrated part of society and the environment. The environmental work must therefore be based on a holistic approach, with clearly stated visions relating to forestry, industrial operations, product development, marketing, purchasing and transport. Progress towards Ecobalance does not only require benign industrial operations. Products should be resource efficient and provide functionality to effectively compete in the market place. It also means that all other aspects of our products life cycles must be considered. Product development, efficient transport chains, environmental management in the mills and methods to evaluate environmental consequences in a broader perspective are examples of our ongoing development work.

Competitiveness is the most important objective to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. The core of STORA’s development activities are therefore aimed at developing market leading paper products and cost efficient facilities within our vision of Ecobalance. An example of this is the ongoing reduction in basis weight for liquid packing board without loss of product functionality. The purpose of the paper is to provide an insight in STORA’s work towards Ecobalance.