Paper Supplier Seeks 20% Carbon Footprint Cut

Aiming to reduce its carbon footprint, UK paper supplier The Robert Horne Group is seeking to achieve a 20 per cent cut by 2010 through logistics, business travel and energy consumption efficiencies.

The paper, board and plastics merchant said that it is also working in partnership with suppliers to help them maximise their energy resources and reduce their CO2 emissions.

Robert Horne said that one success has been the progress that has been made with Burgo, an Italian manufacturer of the Revive 50:50 (Silk and Gloss) paper range.

Burgo is said to have reduced its CO2 emissions per tonne of paper produced (related to energy consumption) by 18 per cent since 2000.

Those efforts are set to continue in future through the installation of a combined heat and power plant, the effect of which will be to further reduce emissions.

Tim Barker, Robert Horne's environmental manager, said: "The work we have been doing with suppliers, such as Burgo, typifies our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.

Naturally it is important that we are able to offer carbon neutral products to those customers who have a specific requirement for an accredited range, but it is equally critical that we take a proactive and holistic approach to reducing the carbon emissions in all our products and across all our activities." Robert Horne added that earlier this year two products from the Revive range had become carbon neutral - Revive 75 and Revive Special Silk, which are also FSC certified and contain either 75 per cent, or 30 per cent recovered fibre, respectively.

The merchant has worked with the manufacturer of the products and the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management to understand the carbon footprint of the two brands and then to invest in renewable energy projects in India and China.

The company added that the projects selected will reduce the carbon emissions of local communities by an amount equivalent to that caused by Revive 75 and Revive Special Silk.

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