Environmental Management

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE

At Kruger, the protection of resources and energy conservation are decisional factors in the planning of all capital investments. Prior to the start-up of all new industrial facilities or the implmentation of any process modifications, the following aspects are assessed :

the nature and impact of emissions from new sources;
the quality of the atmosphere and soil of the sites under consideration;
the impact of existing and future operations on the water, air and soil.

Air Quality - 129 Kb
Water Quality - 258 Kb

Kruger has adopted an environmental policy and a forest policy to ensure the responsible management and sustainable development of the forest, while expanding its recycling and deinking operations and planning its environmental future.

Recycling and Deinking - 175 Kb

RESPONSIBLE IN THE MILL/PLANT

All of our mills in the Newsprint and Coated Paper Division, as well as in the Paperboard Division, have an environmental officer. Corporate Environmental Services are based at our head office.

The environmental officer of each mill oversees implementation and monitors the upholding of protective measures, the general condition of systems and operations and the facility’s progress. Given their technical know-how, environmental officers also advise and train employees.

At the mills/plants, it is incumbent upon each employee to ensure environmental protection. On the agenda:

Good housekeeping is the key to safety
Decreasing noise levels
Reducing oil loss
Optimal fiber recycling
Reducing suspended solids (SS) at source
Reducing effluent flow
Cleaner air emissions

ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE

All our efforts to protect the environment and conserve natural resources have been tangibly rewarded over the past few years by various attestations from the media, industry associations and governmental organizations.

The media and industry associations attribute excellent marks to Kruger for the performance, maintenance and monitoring of our secondary treatment facilities at all our pulp and paper mills.

Governmental and Sector-based Programs
Kruger Inc. joined the Canadian voluntary program for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in an effort to achieve the Canadian objective of stabilizing CO2 emissions at 1990 levels. Kruger registered with Climate Change Challenge-VCR (Voluntary Challenge and Registry) and submitted an action plan. We also support the CIPEC (Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation), and our company has been recognized as an Industrial Energy Innovator by Environment Canada.

BY-PRODUCTS

Kruger newsprint and coated paper mills utilize biomass, such as wood chips, bark, sawdust, shavings, treatment and deinking sludge, unuseable in the manufacturing of paper, to produce energy. The combustion process produces energy that replaces fossil fuels in the mills. This residue would otherwise be sent to landfill or used in agricultural applications.

The Place Turcot Mill is recycling primary sludge from its manufacturing process for the production of construction material in another paperboard facility.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Energy efficiency is another priority at Kruger. At our newsprint and coated paper mills, conversion to thermomechanical pulping (TMP) has proven to be a sound decision. In addition to improving whiteness and other characteristics of the paper we produce, the process allows us to recover 50% of the electrical energy (approximately 2 500 kW/hour per tonne produced) in the form of thermal energy. TMP also produces significantly more pulp from the same quantity of wood, thereby eliminating the use of chemical pulp.