Consumables

UPM’S EU ECO-LABELLED PAPER PRODUCTS OFFERING EXPANDING

Friday 29. May 2009 - UPM's EU Eco-labelled paper products offering is growing in Europe and in the USA. Currently, UPM's EU Eco-labelled products are authorized for use by seventeen paper merchants on a total of 39 different product lines.

“UPM is the largest producer of copying and graphic papers awarded the EU Eco-Label. We can offer over 100 products awarded with the EU Eco-label from 14 of our paper mills in Austria, Finland, France, Germany and the UK,” says Phil Riebel, Vice President, Environmental Affairs, UPM.

The EU Eco-label, also known as the “EU Flower”, is the official EU mark awarded to greener products. For copying and graphic paper, the Eco-label guarantees that the lowest air emissions and greenhouse gases are produced during the papers production as well as ensuring the highest standards of process water cleaning. The EU Eco-label is also a proof of reduced energy consumption, and reduced environmental risks by restricting the use of hazardous chemicals.

According to Riebel, the EU Eco-label is one of the few credible labels that considers several key elements of the environmental life cycle of paper: “The label focuses on an overall low footprint, including the use of recycled fibre or wood fibre originating from sustainably managed and certified forests,”

UPM started using the EU Eco-label in 2006. In 2008, the turnover of UPM’s EU Eco-label offering reached over a half of the Group’s paper sales, which represents a major part of the EU Eco-label’s global turnover.