Forestry
All paper-based packaging is made from wood fibres, a natural and renewable raw material.
Within Smurfit Kappa 75% of the fibres we use are from recycled sources and only 25% comes directly from fresh wood.
We have very strict standards to guarantee that all wood supplied to our virgin pulp mills meets the highest standards of ethics. Either through direct plantation (like in Latin America) or through a network of trusted and certified suppliers (Europe), we have developed a consistent approach to our wood supply. Chain of Custody certification (FSC® or PEFC™) is in place for most of our mills and forest operations and 100% compliance is a clear target.
All our wood is coming from cultivated forests (as opposed to primary forest). For paper making, we mostly use wood unsuitable for other industrial applications and therefore act complementary to other responsible wood activities. Our wood mainly derives from three types of sources
Forest thinnings - immature trees extracted from the cultivated forest to enable those remaining to grow to healthy maturity
- Mature tree tops and branches (round wood goes to saw mills)
- Sawmill waste (slabs, chips and dust) - from the construction and timber industry.
- To maximise the efficient use of wood, we use the ‘unused’ material, such as bark, forest remnants or stumps, to generate biogenic heat and electricity in high efficiency biomass boilers. This helps satisfy the energy needs of our virgin pulp mills whilst limiting fossil CO2 emissions.
Our sustainable sourcing policy describe our codes of conduct with regard to all supplies of wood products, whether coming from our own forests or purchased from third party suppliers. This general policy is applied in each of the countries where we operate:
Colombia
Our largest owned forest plantations are in Colombia, where we have 67,000 hectares of which 64% is commercial plantations, 31% is protected natural forest and 5% is for infrastructure.
Our efforts have been towards the genetic improvement of the species we plant (pine and eucalyptus), their phytosanitary protection and the best nursery and sylviculture practices, which allows greater productivity in minimum the amount of land. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not used. Since 2003, our Colombian forest has operated under a management system that has been certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®).
Spain
We operate under a sustainable forest management system that has been certified in accordance with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™). Central Forestal, a dedicated forestry company, takes care from 1968 of the relationship with the forest owners, supplies our mills in Spain as well of sawmills of the region that at the same time supply their by-products to our paper mills and secures full compliance with the Smurfit Kappa group principles. Their chain of custody is certified under PEFC™ and FSC® systems.
France
The Aquitaine forest of maritime pine covers 0.9 million hectares. This cultivated forest belongs to private owners. It is managed in a sustainable way and is certified PEFC™ and FSC® Controlled Wood
Smurfit Kappa Comptoir du Pin, a dedicated forestry company, has been working collaboratively with the private owners and the forest research institutes for more than 60 years to improve the forest competitiveness in terms of genetics, phytosanitary protection and harvesting methods.
Since 2010, Smurfit Kappa Comptoir du Pin has developed an activity to generate heat and electricity from tree stumps.
FSC and PEFC
We recognise and utilise the 2 major international forest certification schemes, The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™).