January 2012
 

FPWG Founders Meeting Recap

GreenBlue held its first meeting for founding members of the Forest Products Working Group (FPWG) in Boston at Sappi Fine Paper North America headquarters. Founding members include Avery-Dennison Corporation, Avon Products, Bank of America, Catalyst Paper, Domtar, Havi Global Solutions, Sappi Fine Paper N.A., and Staples. The goal of the meeting was to begin to identify opportunities for innovative thinking to address unmet sustainability needs in the pulp and paper sector. The daylong meeting included a very full agenda, but we were able to complete all of our meeting objectives and identify action items and next steps already underway in 2012. More information about the initial focus of the working group will be available this month as well as opportunities for additional companies’ participation and membership in the FPWG. The next on-site meeting is being scheduled for April. Please contact Geneva Hodges for more information.

CFPE December Meeting Recap

The Corporate Forum on Paper and the Environment (CFPE) held another successful meeting on December 6, 2011 in New York hosted by Time, Inc. The CFPE is a collaboration between GreenBlue and the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) that brings together paper and pulp buyers and sellers to provide information and dialogue about the market factors affecting the cycle of fiber. December’s meeting fostered exceptional conversation about the challenges in paper recovery markets as demand for recovered content increases overseas. There was also insightful discussion about the need for innovative business models within paper-based forms of media in an ever-increasing digital world. GreenBlue continues to promote this type of dialogue as a way to share best practices across the pulp and paper industry for both manufacturers and buyers of paper products.

In the Loop

Increasing the Market Share of Sustainably Managed Forest Products

The following is an excerpt from a blog post by Development and Communications Associate Ashley Holmes on GreenBlue's blog, In the Loop. Read all recent posts.

Over the past few months, GreenBlue has been working with a group of students from Columbia University’s M.S. in Sustainability Management program on a research project related to our work in forest products…Sustainable forest management is one of the most important strategies for reducing pressure on the world’s forests. Increasing corporate demand for sustainably managed forest products will be crucial in increasing the global share of sustainably managed forestland and ultimately in safeguarding our valuable forest resources. Through our work with the Columbia team, we wanted to get a better understanding of the current market for sustainably managed forest products and to identify practical actions that can be taken to increase the availability of these products in the marketplace. Read More

Select In the Loop posts will now be featured in GreenBiz, so please be sure to follow us there as well.

GreenBlue in the News

GreenBlue Outlines Vision for Closing the Loop on Packaging
GreenBiz – January 6, 2012
What would it take for California and the U.S. to create a closed loop system, where all used packaging materials were collected and reprocessed for use in a new round of products? Nothing short of a Herculean effort, according to a new report published yesterday by GreenBlue. Read More

What’s the Future for Alternative Fibers?
Reprint of In the Loop blog post by Tom Pollock in GreenBiz – December 23, 2011
Paper -- at least in a historical context -- really didn't have much to do with trees and forests until as recently as 1843. We're quick to connect paper and forests, but for the 2,000-odd years proceeding 1843, paper was derived almost exclusively from recycled textiles such as hemp, linen, and cotton. Read More

GreenBlue Events

Essentials of Sustainable Packaging: Hong Kong
February 22-23, 2012
Hong Kong

SPC Spring Meeting 2012
April 23-25, 2012
Toronto, Ontario

Articles of Interest

A Paper Company's Salvation: A Wood-Based Products That's Stronger Than Steel
Co.Exist – January 4, 2012

Saving the Amazon: Winning the War on Deforestation
BBC News – January 1, 2012

What Will Be the Biggest Driver for Corporate Sustainability in 2012?
GreenBiz – December 30, 2011

Forest Health Versus Global Warming: Fuel Reduction Likely to Increase Carbon Emissions
Science Daily – December 20, 2011

Brazil’s Forest Policy Could Undermine Its Climate Goals
Washington Post – December 18, 2011

Global Forests are Overlooked as Water Supplies, Study Shows
Science Daily – December 15, 2011

Paper Mill Air Pollution Standards 25 Years Out of Date, Environmental Groups Sue EPA
Center for Public Integrity – December 15, 2011

Saving the Amazon, from Forest Floor Up
STLtoday – December 11, 2011

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