UPM believes that companies are responsible for the environmental impact caused by their products during the entire lifecycle. The product lifecycle spans from raw material and energy sourcing to production, distribution and recovery, until the products are used and discarded. UPM's main products are paper, pulp, plywood, timber and label materials. Most of these products are made from renewable wood raw material that can be reused and recycled.
UPM’s work highlights that innovative thinking and professional research and development prolongs the product lifecycle. This can lead to the development of new products from recyclable materials and waste.
Reusing waste from label materials production processes
UPM Raflatac has found innovative solutions for adopting the lifecycle approach in label materials production. A good example of this is the wood plastic composite, UPM ProFi, which mainly consists of waste from the production process for self-adhesive label materials. The main raw materials used to produce UPM ProFi are paper and plastic. Another excellent example is the RafCycle waste management programme for customers.
30% of all UPM's fibre raw materials used in paper is recycled fibre
UPM is the world´s largest user of recovered paper in the graphic paper industry. The share of recycled fibre represents one third of all fibre raw materials used in UPM’s paper production. UPM uses an optimal mix of wood fibre and recycled fibre depending on the desired product and the properties required.
Recovered paper is an important raw material in paper making. However, the use of fresh fibre is essential to the paper cycle, as wood fibres can only be recycled a certain number of times before they become shortened and too weak for papermaking.
UPM uses recovered paper when the raw material is available close to the mills. In countries with a small population and large forest resources, the use of fresh fibre usually predominates, whereas in countries with a high population and small forest resources, recovered fibre is used more frequently.
Well organised sorting systems - the key to recycling
The use of recovered paper as a raw material also depends on there being well organised sorting and collecting systems. The way paper is collected in a region depends on the national and regional legislation. Recovered paper is an essential raw material for UPM, and we want to safeguard the availability and quality of it by co-operating with communities and wastepaper companies.
Offices and individual households have an important role to play when it comes to increasing and improving the quality of recovered paper. Most paper can be recycled, including used newspapers, cardboard, packaging, stationery, direct mail, magazines, catalogues, greeting cards, envelopes and wrapping paper.