Domtar expands paper production impact tool
By Canadian Packaging staff
Automation Design & Innovation General Paperboard Packaging Domtar Corporation The Paper Trail tracing environmental impactExpanding its Paper Trail of digital transparency, new Domtar site now includes social and economic data in addition to estimated environmental impacts.
MONTREAL—Domtar Corporation has announced it has applied significant updates to The Paper Trail, its award-winning interactive tool that helps customers trace the impacts of their paper purchases. Domtar designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a wide variety of fiber-based products including communication papers, specialty and packaging papers and absorbent hygiene products.
The totally renovated website includes social and economic information in addition to environmental data, broadening the meaning of sustainability. It represents Domtar’s belief that businesses should operate transparently, pulling back the curtain on their operations and the resulting impacts.
With the latest additions, The Paper Trail (www.domtarpapertrail.com) now showcases the people and places behind the products, featuring stories and photos from all 13 of Domtar’s North American mills. The tool assesses Domtar’s community investments by tracking charitable donations and volunteer efforts, such as recycling programs or educational initiatives. It also demonstrates the paper industry’s impact on the economy, as Domtar employs nearly 9,000 people across the U.S. and Canada.
“Since first introducing The Paper Trail in 2011, our thinking has continued to evolve regarding what sustainability encompasses,” sys Domtar vice-president of sustainability and business communicational Paige Goff. “The new site embraces all three legs of the ‘sustainability stool’ by assessing not only our environmental footprint, but our social and economic impact as well. It demonstrates Domtar’s commitment to the towns we operate in – not only as an environmental advocate, but also as a driver of community initiatives and a creator of thousands of jobs.”
The Paper Trail provides gate-to-gate impact estimates for Domtar products across five environmental categories: fiber, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water, renewable energy and waste. It provides relevant context by illustrating how Domtar compares to the rest of the industry in these categories and, importantly, highlights areas for improvement in addition to showcasing what Domtar is doing well.
“The Paper Trail illustrates many of the complex issues we carefully consider when evaluating opportunities to improve our performance,” says Domtar senior manager of sustainability performance optimization Brian Kozlowski. “We’ve used the tool to display mill sustainability data in an interesting and interactive way—and we’re inviting the public to come along on the journey.”
In addition to providing social and economic data, The Paper Trail also:
- Includes an expanded list of responsibly produced paper grades, representing the entire EarthChoice product line;
- Displays histories, pictures and stories from all 13 of Domtar’s North American pulp and paper mills;
- Offers users personalized impact report options with broader sustainability information, including topics of interest such as bleaching processes used and tree species utilized;
- Is optimized for use on all smartphone, tablet and desktop devices;
- Uses Google Maps to create a geographic trail to the closest mill that produces a select paper grade.
With these improvements in place, The Paper Trail offers a clear and complete answer to the question “where does my paper come from?” It goes beyond environmental data to show customers how their purchase of North American paper can create a positive ripple effect on local communities.
“We can’t always promise perfection, but we believe our customers deserve transparency. That’s a promise we will always deliver—and it’s the reason we created The Paper Trail in the first place,” states Goff. “Now, consumers can also take pride in the fact they’re helping to drive philanthropic efforts and create jobs across North America when they purchase from Domtar.”
The majority of Domtar’s pulp production is consumed internally to manufacture paper and consumer products. It is the largest integrated marketer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America, and is also a leading marketer and producer of a broad line of absorbent hygiene products.
In 2013, Domtar had sales of $5.4 billion from some 50 countries via 10,000 employees.
More information can be found at www.domtar.com.
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