The Ecology of Industry Sectors and Linkages (1998) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
The Pulp and Paper Industry
The Pulp and Paper Industry
Pages 101-141
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From page 101... ...
It also provides an industry perspective on the most significant environmental issues of historical and future importance. A1though the emphasis here is on complexity, shortcomings, and barriers, the industry has, in fact, continually improved its environmental performance while increasing its business.
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From page 102... ...
The industry in the United States employs over 690,000 people. The availability and affordability of forest products and the economic health of the industry have always depended on the sustainable use of the forest resource.
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From page 103... ...
The principles of sustainable forestry (Box 1) adopted by members of the American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA)
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From page 104... ...
However, most North American commercial forests eventually need good sunlight to reproduce successfully, and clear-cutting is used to accomplish this goal. Moreover, plantation forests are usually more economically planted, managed, and harvested.
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From page 105... ...
The species-by-species approach, inherent in efforts to protect threatened and endangered species, does not take into account the impact of intensive forestry on entire ecosystems and the many species living in them. However, in the absence of better understanding of the effect of harvesting and reforestation on ecosystems, it is the approach being used.
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From page 106... ...
Black liquor is a mixture of sodium compounds (sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, sodium sulfate, and sodium carbonate) , organic compounds, and salts including lignins and resins.
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From page 107... ...
107 In In .= J -0 1 1 ' 1 ~ 1 ~2_ .O .O m Io ~ ._ IL ~ In 0 S o cnm .
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From page 108... ...
108 w gl W ~ W ._ in W o .
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From page 109... ...
Rather than burn the soap along with the rest of the organic materials in the black liquor, it is sold to refiners for use in a variety of products from paper additives to cosmetics. Acidulation of soap liberates hydrogen sulfide, which is often collected by mills and scrubbed or incinerated.
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From page 110... ...
The boiler gases contain carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, traces of hydrogen sulfide, and sodium sulfate particulate. In most instances, a high-eff~ciency electrostatic precipitator is used to remove the particulate matter, which is redissolved in the incoming black liquor.
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From page 111... ...
These older mills generally have to use some fossil fuels because the older processes are less efficient. Newer kraft pulp mills derive almost all necessary steam and electrical energy from renewable resources such as black liquor and wood waste, and therefore require the use of very little, if any, fossil fuels.
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From page 112... ...
Chloroform is not removed by alkali scrubbing, but concentrations of the compound can be lowered by reducing the use of sodium hypochlorite bleach and increasing the substitution of chlorine dioxide for chlorine. Because of concern about chlorinated organics and the reusability of bleachplant effluent, research into totally chlorine free (TCF)
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From page 113... ...
The main impetus behind conservation efforts to date, however, has been the general principle of environmental stewardship that less is better. One of the key strengths of the U.S.
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From page 114... ...
and nonintegrated mills (American Forest and Paper Association, 1994~. Modern kraft pulp mill operations, with the exception of the lime kilns, can satisfy their total steam and electrical energy requirements using black liquor and wood waste and therefore do not require fossil fuels.
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From page 115... ...
Because more locations are available for burning recovered paper than for reprocessing it, collection logistics can be simplified and transportation energy requirements reduced. Controlling Odor One of the ironies of the industry's attempt at environmental stewardship relates to odor control.
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From page 116... ...
Most of the first part of this paper has described the strides that have been made already by the industry to control pollutants. The remainder of this section describes new developments and trends that might affect the industry's environmental stewardship in the future.
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From page 117... ...
Paper Recycling Concern about deforestation (and public misperception that the forest products industry is a contributor to it) and about the worldwide production of solid waste have put paper at the top of the list for recycling efforts in developed countries.
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From page 118... ...
Alternative bleaching processes that reuse bleach plant wastewater would reduce water use. The development of black-liquor gasification technology could improve the safety and efficiency of the chemical-recovery process and reduce emissions of air pollutants.
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From page 119... ...
The Clean Air Act of 1970, for example, set limits on ambient air contamination and required implementation plans from the states, including permit-granting rules and programs for solving ambient-air-quality problems. The Clean Water Act of 1972 established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which required every manufacturing and municipal waste-treatment facility to obtain a permit limiting discharges.
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From page 120... ...
1977 - Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (SWRCA) 1978 - Endangered Species Act Amendments (ESAA)
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From page 121... ...
The 1980s were also characterized by increased pubic awareness of environmental issues. The 1990s began with reauthorization of the Clean Air Act, which greatly expanded the list of regulated air pollutants to include toxic compounds.
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From page 122... ...
Recent stringent interpretation of the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act has come in conflict with traditional private-property rights. Controversies have resulted over such issues as protection of endangered species (e.g., the northern spotted owl in the Northwest)
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From page 123... ...
The industry · spent over $1 billion per year in the 1990s on pure environmentally related capital, expenditures that in 1991 and 1992 represented almost 20 percent of total capital expenditures; · reduced in-mill water usage and the volume of effluent generated in the production of a ton of paper by over 70 percent since 1959; · decreased the amount of BOD in effluent from 94 pounds per ton of product in 1959 to 8.2 pounds per ton in 1988; · lowered the amount of total suspended solids discharged per ton of product by 80 percent between 1979 and 1988; · reduced the proportion of sludge going to landfills and lagoons by 16 percent between 1979 and 1988; cut discharges of dioxin by 90 percent between 1988 and 1992, limiting the combined generation of the compound by all U.S. mills to less than 4 ounces per year; · performed widespread process changes sufficient to decrease the amount of chlorinated organic compounds in effluent by 30 percent since 1988; · cut use of elemental chlorine by 34 percent since 1986, with expectation of a 50-percent reduction by 1996; planned to increase dramatically the use of alternative bleaching chemicals, including chlorine dioxide and hydrogen peroxide (a 60-percent projected increase by 1996)
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From page 124... ...
regulatory scene, the greatest impetus will be to clarify remaining issues regarding requirements under the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 and integrate them with the pending cluster rule and, eventually, with the reauthorized Clean Water Act.
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From page 125... ...
The cluster rule is exemplified by standards for all bleached-paper-grade kraft and soda operations based on the use of either oxygen delignification or extended delignification, and complete substitution of molecular chlorine with chlorine dioxide. The Current Regulatory Process The current regulatory approach is inherent in legal mandates passed on to EPA by Congress, which too often bends to environmental fashion rather than using scientific evidence to set a course of action for the long term.
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From page 126... ...
To address regional and local environmental issues, one would have to either have local variations in values or create a hybrid with the current regulatory scheme. In any case, no one can say such a system would automatically be less contentious or complex than the existing framework.
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From page 127... ...
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE METRICS The stringency of environmental regulations is increasingly linked to the measurement used. In the early 1970s, environmental measurements by companies consisted almost entirely of spot tests of emissions and discharges such as semiannual stack tests and daily effluent BOD, with a smattering of required ambient tests (e.g., river oxygen and ambient particulates)
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From page 128... ...
, and the effectiveness of environmental management systems. None of these approaches is yet the subject of regulation in the United States, even though many domestic, foreign, and international organizations are participating in programs to define and use such parameters to effect improvement in environmental performance and public relations.
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From page 129... ...
. The life-cycle concept is not new to the forest products industry.
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From page 130... ...
Environmental performance dominates the discussion about the industry, both from a public policy and a public relations standpoint. The industry recognizes that its continuing success will depend on a healthy environment.
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From page 131... ...
Government and industry are cooperating increasingly at the highest levels. The best example of this is the President's Council for Sustainable Development, which includes a representative of the forest products industry.
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From page 132... ...
Many companies in the industry have gone even further to demonstrate environmental stewardship. They have established company-specific principles and codes of environmental conduct and set up departments exclusively focused on ensuring environmental compliance and improving environmental performance beyond regulatory requirements.
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From page 133... ...
First, though, the industry needs to make sure its own house is in order that pulp and paper manufacturers truly are operating in an environmentally responsible way. Companies can improve environmental performance and waste fewer resources through better coordination of their efforts.
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From page 134... ...
In other words, what gets measured gets done. Too often, the diversity of the forest products industry has led it to follow the lowest-common-denominator strategy: setting goals so that the poorest environmental performers are able to meet them.
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For each major environmental issue, such as human health effects, an objective should be picked using a scientifically based public consensus process. Figure 4 illustrates the range of possible objectives.
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. · There would be greater agreement among all interested parties that the costs of environmental management were worthwhile; hence, there would be a higher level of compliance and fewer legal and administrative costs.
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It is easier for light industries to meet this standard than heavy industries such as pulp and paper. Voluntary programs should respect differences among the various industry sectors and should not be allowed to become command-and-control regulations in the future.
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From page 138... ...
In addition, effective environmental policy by the government requires cost-benefit analyses and consideration of environmental trade-offs. For example, in the paper industry, the trade-offs involved in recycling, which would cause increased reliance on external energy sources (e.g., fossil fuels)
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From page 139... ...
In the case of the forest products industry, it is important in any LCA to consider how the industry manages its forest resources and the relationship of that management to a particular line of forest products. Because people often react emotionally to the loss of wooded areas, articulating scientific positions is difficult and is a burden other sectors, such as agriculture, do not have to bear.
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From page 140... ...
Washington, D.C.: AFPA. American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA)
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From page 141... ...
Atlanta, Gal: Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry. Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI)
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