The cost of sustainability
December 1st 2009

Is it possible to provide your customers with environmentally-friendly, sustainable products without paying the earth? Dr Martina Eisenbeis, of Tork manufacturer SCA, looks at how to reconcile sustainability with cost-effective solutions

It used to be accepted that environmentally-friendly products were often more costly than less 'green' alternatives.And in some cases environmentally-friendly solutions were not even expected to work as well as other products, for example 'green' detergents often relied on less aggressive formulations than their traditional counterparts. But when the environmental movement first took hold, many companies were prepared to overlook these drawbacks in their willingness to become greener.

However, the crippling effects of the recession over the past few years has put the issue of keeping down costs at the top of the agenda. In the meantime, the term 'environmentally-friendly' has been replaced with the wider concept of 'sustainability'.To be sustainable today, any company, product or ethos needs to be highly workable both in terms of effectiveness and costs.

Sustainable investment 'Sustainability' encompasses everything from business ethics and corporate social responsibility to community position and environmental concern. A sustainable business has to be competitive in order to survive, and an increasing number of companies are discovering that cost savings can go hand in hand with sustainability.However, an initial investment is often required.

In 2003 at SCA's tissue mill in Lilla Edet, Sweden,we invested in a boiler and sludge combustion unit for two reasons:We were keen to implement a sustainable energy system, and we also wanted to reduce the amount of waste we sent to landfill sites.

The unit takes the sludge from the recycled paper de-inking operations and turns it into steam.The heat and steam from combustion produces electricity for use in the mill, and the surplus is used for district heating in the Lilla Edet community.

Since its introduction, the boiler project has reduced CO2 emissions within SCA Tissue Europe by 6-7%. And as energy prices have increased over the years, the investment has turned out to be a real cost saving.

The sludge produced from recycled paper contains a large amount of clean ash which can be used for ecological agriculture, road construction and asphalt production.The ash can replace cement and lime which are both highly CO2-intensive to produce.

Another example of our long-term sustainability investments can be found in the forests of central Sweden where SCA is building a wind power park in conjunction with Norwegian power producer Statkraft. When fully operational the plant will produce around 2.8 terawatt hours of electricity. Part of this will be used by SCA´s operations in Sweden while the rest will be fed into the national grid.

SCA is also constantly striving to reduce its freshwater intake by cleaning and re-using process water.While this scheme eventually brings a reduction in water consumption costs, initial investments in efficient water treatment technology have had to be made.

Lay waste to waste Such large-scale, long-term projects are not practical solutions for every company. But one of the key ways in which all companies can be environmentally friendly and cost-effective is by reducing waste.We are seeing this phenomenon everywhere: Packaging is being kept to a minimum, supermarkets are persuading customers to re-use plastic bags and super-concentrated chemicals are becoming more prevalent, leading to smaller bottles.

Besides reducing companies'waste disposal costs, these moves also cut down on the number of deliveries from manufacturer to supplier and from supplier to customer.This reduces both CO2 emissions and fuel bills.

In January, SCA was named in the Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable companies for the fifth year running.We look at the environment and sustainability at every stage in the life cycle of our products, and we reduce waste and over-consumption wherever we can. For instance,Tork Elevation dispensers (launched earlier this year) are designed to minimise the amount of spare space inside the dispenser and around the refill.The dispenser is more compact, so more of them will fit on to a lorry. Pallet fit is a simple method of improving sustainability while also reducing costs.We take the 'air' out of pallets by filling all available space with boxes of Tork tissue products.This reduces the number of lorries required to transport our products, reducing energy and transport costs throughout.

Tork Elevation dispensers are designed to be highly durable, again avoiding unnecessary waste.The dispensers can also be recycled.All Tork dispensers have been developed to limit consumption of product by giving out only one portion at a time.Controlled consumption helps to eliminate waste by discouraging the user from taking more than they need.

Reducing energy consumption, cutting down on unnecessary transport and minimising waste are all important elements of sustainability that also bring cost-savings.

By taking a holistic view and thinking through every link in the production and supply chain, companies can indeed bring down their costs while also being environmentally-friendly.

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