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Waste & Recycling July 13, 2016 12:30:13 PM

AF&PA Report indicates early achievement of 2020 sustainability goals

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
The US paper and paperboard production dropped to 79 million tons in 2015, as compared with 83 million tons in 2010.

AF&PA Report indicates early achievement of 2020 sustainability goals

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has published the 2016 Sustainability Report. The biennial report highlights the US Paper and wood products manufacturers’ ongoing commitment to sustainability practices. The companies have shown significant progress toward achieving the Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 sustainability goals and have reported early achievement of goals set for safety incidence rate and greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the report, the paper and wood products industry contributed over $84 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014; the pulp and paper sector accounted for $55.5 billion in GDP and the wood products sector, $28.7 billion. Overall, the forest products industry accounted for 4 percent of manufacturing GDP in 2014. Moreover, the industry emerged as one among the top ten manufacturing sector employers in 47 U.S. states.

The forest products industry employed 914,000 people in 2015. Of these, 102,000 people were employed at pulp, paper and paperboard mills, 271,000 at paper and paperboard converting plants, 380,000 at lumber and wood panel facilities, and 110,000 at wood kitchen cabinet plants. The figures indicate that industry employment has managed to rebound sharply during recent years. Total forest products industry employee compensation amounted to $51.4 billion in 2014. Paper industry employees were paid an average of $54,712 a year in 2014.

The US paper and paperboard production dropped to 79 million tons in 2015, as compared with 83 million tons in 2010. The paper and wood products industry realized operating profits of $14 billion in 2015.

In 2015, 52 million tons, or 66.8 percent of paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. AF&PA notes that maximizing existing sources of recovered fiber and reaching out to new potential sources of recovered paper and packaging will help in achieving the goal of 70% recovery, well ahead of 2020. Incidentally, the use of recovered fiber to make new paper products by AF&PA members avoided more than 21 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in 2015.

The AF&PA 2016 Sustainability Report indicates early achievement of two sustainability goals. Greenhouse gas emission reduction by AF&PA facilities attained 16%, surpassing the goal of 15%. The safety incidence rate witnessed an improvement of 40.8%, significantly higher when compared with the 25% improvement goal.

In 2014, biomass and renewable fuels provided, on average, about 66.8 percent of pulp and paper mill energy needs, increasing slightly from 65.9 percent in 2012. At wood products facilities, on average, about 64.3 percent of energy needs were supplied by biomass and renewable fuels. The renewable biomass fuels used by AF&PA member facilities consist of bark, sawdust, wood shavings and other woody residuals created during manufacturing processes.

About AF&PA

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is the national trade association of the forest products industry, representing manufacturers of approximately 80% of the U.S. pulp and paper industry and 50% of the wood building material capacity. AF&PA was formed on January 1, 1993 by the merger of the National Forest Product Association and the American Paper Institute.

AF&PA's primary work is public policy advocacy at the international, national, state and local levels. The Association also serves as the forest products industry's primary statistical clearinghouse for manufacturing, production and capacity data.

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