Scheufelen & The Environment
Scheufelen’s Environmental Policy Scheufelen is one of Europe’s leading producers of premium coated papers. Environmental issues are an integral part of our activities because only companies with a responsible and sustainable environmental policy can enjoy long-term success. Scheufelen is not satisfied merely with fulfilling obligations, but continuously strive to improve processes and reduce their effect on the environment by further developing products, processes and working practices. Scheufelen's approach to the environmental issues surrounding paper manufacture centres on openness and dialogue, as demonstrated by the fact that we allow independent institutions to inspect the processes. Environmental protection and safety are an integral part of corporate activity at Scheufelen. They take responsibility not only for plant and operational safety, but also for a conscientious approach to raw materials, energy, water, air, earth and waste disposal, for the health and safety of their employees and neighbours, and for ensuring that the products are environmentally friendly.
Responsible Behaviour
Scheufelen behave responsibly. The principles of environmental protection and safety are firmly entrenched within the company – protecting people from harmful effects, using natural resources more efficiently and minimising the burden on the environment.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development makes provision for both current and future generations. Scheufelen continuously optimise energy and raw material consumption in production processes and seek ways in which to minimise emissions in order to achieve a balance between ecology and economy. Scheufelen's Raw Materials Pulp is indispensable for the production of high-quality paper and is produced from wood. For our papers, we purchase top-quality pulp with a high level of whiteness, produced exclusively using elementary chlorine-free bleaching processes.
– Scheufelen only use pulp from sustainable forestry (some with FSC, PEFC, SFI or SFM certificatio) and plantation forest sites. Part of the pulp is produced from sawmill waste. In all cases, we can demonstrate that the wood does not come from designated high-risk areas.
– Since September 2005, Scheufelen have been FSC certified for the premium coated paper Consort Royal blue white (Certificate no. SW-COC-1615). The FSC model’s ‘chain of custody’ allows the raw material chain to be checked and certified right back to the place of origin.
– Scheufelen seek to use pulp from manufacturers that carefully review and improve environmental protection on a regular basis, over and above the already strict legal requirements. To achieve this, we select our pulp suppliers carefully.
– As far as possible, all paper waste created during manufacture is returned to the production process.
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Water & Energy
Water is required for the production of paper. By using closed water cycles, the average water requirement today is only a fraction of what was needed in the past. Modern technologies allow us to continuously reduce our fresh water requirements. Most of the water is taken from our own sources and from the Lauter, the river flowing through the Lenningen valley.
Our objective is to further optimise water use for a more efficient utilisation of resources. The amount of waste water is steadily being reduced thanks to improved recycling and process engineering. The ultimate goal is to minimise the overall burden on the environment. An integrated biological waste water cleaning plant ensures that the waste water leaving the factory is as clean as possible. Once the waste water has been cleaned, goldfish and carp in our three final sedimentation ponds bear witness to the quality of the water. The water is also aerated and oxygen is added. Only then is it put back into the Lauter. Papierfabrik Scheufelen has its own sludge incineration facility which complies with all the values set by the strict emissions standards and, in some cases, produces much lower emission levels. The energy contained in these emissions produces steam for drying the moist paper web. Our main source of energy is natural gas, which produces virtually no harmful emissions. We also have an environmentally friendly way of obtaining some of the electricity we need – in the form of our own hydroelectric power plant and a steam turbine. Despite the fact that production has increased, we have been able to reduce our overall energy requirements by more than 15% over the past 8 years.
Transport
New environmentally friendly transport solutions should be both cost-effective and resource-efficient. Overall, the paper industry is very transport-intensive when it comes to goods and raw materials. In 2001, the total weight of materials we transported exceeded 600,000 tons. For environmental reasons, we obtain our raw materials almost exclusively by rail or barge and rail, even though these modes of transport are more expensive than road transport. Logistics requirements mean that the bulk of our finished products are transported by road. For overseas destinations, we use inland container transport to the European ports. |
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Ecology can be described as the study of the relationship of organisms to their physical environment and to one another. In a broader view, ecology encompasses all life and is about relationships, balance, and how everything is interconnected. When we ignore the needs of other species and the environment as a whole, we damage our own quality of life and threaten our existence on this planet. This realization gave birth to environmentalism, which can be described as the movement to protect the quality and continuity of life through conservation of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and beneficial land use while respecting and appreciating our natural world. Environmentalism is not an abstract or radical concept; it is a fundamental response of the human species to preserve itself.
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An ecosystem may be as small as a tidal pool or a rotting log or as large as an ocean or a continent-spanning forest. Each ecosystem consists of a community of plants and animals in an environment that supplies them with raw materials for life. The energy necessary for all life processes reaches the earth in the form of sunlight. By photosynthesis, green plants convert light energy into chemical energy; carbon dioxide and water are transformed into sugar, which is then stored in the plant. The energy for life on earth can only be replenished by green plants absorbing and converting solar energy.
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