Achieving ISO 14001 certification bears witness to the continuous improvement in our processes, affecting waste management, energy use, pollution control and prevention, and the use of all necessary means to achieve active collaboration in sustainable development in Torraspapel's work.

All nine Torraspapel mills have been audited by AENOR, the Spanish Standards and Certification Association, with all of them having obtained ISO14001 environmental-management certification.


(hide)

Large amounts of water are used in the manufacturing processes for pulp and paper. However, nearly all the water is returned to the environment: from90 to95%is returned to the source rivers, and of the remaining 5 to 10%, some is released into the atmosphere as steam, while the rest remains in the paper as its moisture content.

The process of reducing water usage rates began a considerable time ago through the introduction of internal measures in the manufacturing process to prevent in-process water loss, and boosted through investments for bringing in more equipment and systems that increase the amount of water that is reused. A reduction of 5% in the water needed for producing paper and 4% for pulp production having been achieved between 2004 and 2006.


(ocultar)

The pulp Torraspapel needs for producing paper comes both from the company's Zaragoza factory (51%) and from outside suppliers (49%).

The pulp produced at the Zaragoza factory comes from eucalyptus forest plantations in the north of Spain and in Portugal. The total certified-forest area in Spain is very small (approximately 3% of all woodland) owing mainly to the small size of the plantations. In that context, Torraspapel is working actively with ASPAPEL (Asociation of Spanish Pulp and Paper Manufactures) in helping owners of small forest plantations in Spain who are already applying sustainable-forestry management to achieve certification of their woodland under one of the internationally recognised certification programmes.

As for pulp purchases, Torraspapel has implemented a purchasing policy in line with the commitment made bythe company in 2004, which has resulted in the increased purchase of certified pulp and in creating the necessary tracking and control mechanisms. Hence all Torraspapel pulp suppliers are expected to declare:
· Percentage of the pulp they supply that comes from certified-wood sources.
· Type of certificate applying to the items concerned.
· Origin of the wood (forests, plantations or sawmills).

In 2006, approximately 58% of the pulp purchased was certified under at least one of the certification schemes currently available in the market (FSC, PEFC, SFI, QFM...).


(hide)

The cogeneration systems employed by Torraspapel produce electrical and thermal energy using natural gas and biomass as inputs, since they are the cleanest and most efficient fuels.

With the aim of contributing to improving energy efficiency, thereby reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Torraspapel has invested over 66 million euros in installing 5 cogeneration plants for supplying thermal and electrical energy to four of its mills: Zaragoza, Sarrià, Leitza and Motril.

Thanks to these investments, Torraspapel has succeeded in steadily increasing the amount of electrical energy generated in-house. The company now generates more energy than it uses. Thus Torraspapel not only covers its own energy needs, but also places its excess electricity on the market, where it is sold as high efficiency cogenerated energy.

(hide)

With the aim of minimising sludge discharges at the disposal sites, Torraspapel has reduced the waste generated in manufacturing paper by recovering some of the sludge and reusing it in the manufacturing process, thanks to the recovery of the coating waters at the Zaragoza and Sarrià mills and to the recovery of the waste from cyclone treatment at Sant Joan, Zaragoza and Sarrià.

Moreover, as a result of bringing in the environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001 standard at all Torraspapel's mills, effective improvements have been made to waste management, segregation and storage practices.

It is also to be noted that all the types of paper-making sludge generated have been analysed and classified as non hazardous.


(hide)

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certification is the world's leading forestry certification system, with over 196 million hectares certified in 22 countries, and almost 3,000 Chain-of-Custody certificates in 26 countries. In Spain, over 560,000 hectares and 72 Chains of Custody have been certified under this scheme.

There are two fundamental aspects in wood certification:
· Certifying that the forest is being managed sustainably - SFM Certification (Sustainable Forest Management).
· Certifying the products – Chain-of-Custody Certification.

Chain-of-Custody Certification (CoC) verifies that the wood used in the production process comes from forests that are managed following sustainability criteria. It is the next stage after sustainable forest management certification, and guarantees a monitoring system for the flow of timber from forest to end product.

(hide)

The advantage in using natural gas rather than coal or petroleum derivatives lies in the absence of solid particles in the emissions released into the atmosphere, the absence of gases derived from sulphur, and lower CO2 emissions. Using natural gas instead of fuel oil will bring significant improvements in the quality of emissions released into the atmosphere.

Fuel oil consumption has been reduced to just 5% over the last year. Problems with natural gas supplies have prevented us from using more of it as a replacement for fuel oil as we had planned, and so complete elimination of fuel oil has been postponed until 2007.


(hide)

These courses were given directly by the external consultants who helped us to implement our environmental-management systems and by our own Human Resources Department, and they were arranged for staff with positions of responsibility and all other staff directly involved. All the information on environmental standards and management is conveyed by those in charge of the mill personnel, making sure that all the employees are aware of and understand the environmental implications of their work.

In this way, an environmental culture is created in accordance with ISO 14001 standards and with the company’s environmental policy.
(hide)

The company also provides stakeholders with up-to-date information on its environmental actions through the magazine Fibra that is sent out to all its employees, through the Torraspapel website's section on the environment, and through the press releases sent out to the main publications for the paper industry, the graphic arts sector and other related sectors.
(hide)