Domtar, Montreal, Qué, Canada, released its 2015 Sustainability Report earlier this week, providing insight into the company's priorities and outlining opportunities on the journey towards becoming a more sustainable business. The report reinforces Domtar's commitments and provides longer-term context for its decisions and activities, while revealing the connectivity between the two.

 

"Sustainability at Domtar shapes our decisions and optimizes our performance," explained John D. Williams, Domtar's president and CEO. "We accomplish this through careful consideration of how we leverage emerging opportunities, preserve shareholder value and maintain our position as a true leader in sustainability – beyond just the forest products industry."

 

The 2015 report showcases the company's progress against stated sustainability goals. Key accomplishments in this year's report include:

• 74% of electricity used in Domtar's pulp and paper mills was self-generated, outpacing the U.S. Pulp and Paper Industry average of 59%.
• 52% reduction in the recordable safety incident rate since 2008.
• 23% reduction in waste sent to landfills from Domtar's pulp and paper mills, and avoided landfilling materials equivalent to the weight of almost two Empire State Buildings since 2013.
• Sold the five-millionth ton of Forest Stewardship Council® certified paper in 2014, a first for the North American market.
• $1.35 million donated in community investments throughout 2014.

Domtar states that the corporation's commitment to sustainability begins with recognizing the unique operational context of each facility, conducting an in-depth analysis to gain a holistic understanding of the risks and opportunities at the facility level. More information on the company's sustainability practices can be found online.

Domtar designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a wide variety of fiber-based products, including communication papers, specialty and packaging papers, and absorbent hygiene products. The foundation of the business is a network of world-class wood fiber-converting assets that produce papergrade, fluff, and specialty pulp. The majority of pulp production is consumed internally to manufacture paper and consumer products. Domtar is the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America with recognized brands such as Cougar®, Lynx® Opaque Ultra, Husky® Opaque Offset, First Choice®, EarthChoice®, and Xerox® Paper and Specialty Media. Domtar is also a marketer and producer of a broad line of absorbent hygiene products marketed primarily under the Attends®, IncoPack® and Indasec® brand names. In 2014, Domtar had sales of $5.6 billion from some 50 countries. The company employs 9,800 people.