saving water

Our water sources are groundwater from our own wells and surface water. As our high-quality papers require extremely pure water, we treat extracted water prior to use to prevent the introduction of any impurities. We apply the WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Framework and the WWF water risk filter to determine water risk and evaluate water stress on all our sites that depend on high volumes of water.

We continuously invest in water efficiency projects, process optimization and Best Available Techniques (e.g. waste water heatpump evaluation) to reduce our water withdrawal volumes.

We differentiate between usage and consumption of water. Our water consumption reflects the water evaporated during the drying process and the water content in the specialty papers we produce. Water usage refers to cooling water and process water.

We keep cooling water in separate circuits to reduce freshwater withdrawal and use the warm water for internal processes. We reuse clarified water to clean our paper machines, minimizing the freshwater consumption of our mills. Our goal is to further separate the cooling and process water cycles to improve efficiency. We conducted a comprehensive water balance analysis at two of our sites to identify opportunities for optimizing water usage in both cycles.

Wastewater that is purified before discharge is primarily generated from stock cleaning after machine downtime or grade changes, process water and white water from wire and felt cleaning.

We have on-site tertiary wastewater treatment plants and a primary treatment plant, all of which adhere to the highest environmental standards. All water discharged from paper mills is continuously monitored. Some paper sites discharge water to freshwater bodies and surface water. Monitoring this water ensures that discharges are always well within the limits for each production site, in compliance with applicable standards and regulations. On other sites the wastewater is discharged to municipal wastewater treatment plants.

We regularly monitor wastewater quality parameters based on water mass balances available at each site. Key parameters, such as pH value and temperature, are continuously measured. Automatic water sampling ensures daily analyses of parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), solid content and biological oxygen demand (BOD).

We adopt a precautionary approach and prepare for potential incidents through emergency plans that are easily accessible to all employees. These comprise precise procedures in the event of water contamination and corresponding instructions for action. Additional buffer tanks or ponds protect against the discharge of wastewater into the sewer system or the environment.