Packaging
KORSNÄS FIRST TO INTRODUCE EPD
Friday 15. April 2011 - Korsnäs is the first company in the forest industry to supply the market with complete environmental declarations for a broad range of products according to the international EPD standard. The international EPD system sets a standard for the methodology of measuring, compiling and presenting the particulars of environmental performance.
A credible declaration
An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) is a document that comprises a full record of the environmental impact of a product based on a life-cycle analysis in accordance with ISO 14044. The aim is to provide relevant, verified and comparable environmental information to help organisations and companies to communicate the environmental performance of their products in a credible and understandable way. All data are verified by an independent body, in this case Det Norske Veritas.
A detailed report
The information contained in an EPD includes environmental impact data such as emissions into air and water, use of energy and potential environmental gains. The transparency achieved allows customers to assess the environmental impact of Korsnäs products “from cradle to customer gate”. The EPD provides the data that enable customers to account for the environmental footprint of their operations.
A marketing tool for customers
“Today any brand must relate to environmental issues in a clear way and deal with this matter in its brand communications,” says Per Haglund, Director Sales and Marketing Paperboard Korsnäs. “To be distinctive and strong, a brand must make a statement. The choice of a responsible packaging solution is a good start. The EPDs will be a great help for our customers – converters, brand owners and packaging designers – when conveying their environmental credentials to their customers in turn.”
An EPD for a specific product category
Environmental impact is different from one type of product to another. This is why the standard requires that an EPD be based on Product Category Rules (PCR). The PCR bring transparency and enable comparison of data in accordance with an internationally standardised system. The process of establishing PCR and compiling the EPDs was coordinated and supervised by IVL, part of the Swedish Environmental Management Council.
Track record
Korsnäs has a history of pioneering developments in the environmental field. Korsnäs was the first forest industry company in the world to obtain an ISO 14001 certification from seedling to finished product, which means that Korsnäs had the industrys first environmental management system in place. That was in 1997. In the same year, Korsnäs became the first entirely FSC-certified forest company in Sweden and was one of the first companies in the industry to ascertain sourcing through an audited chain of custody.