The Wisconsin paper mill has earned a 2015 Green Masters Award. This is the second year in a row it has won the award.

Verso's (Memphis, Tenn.) Stevens Point facility was recognized by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council for significant and ongoing sustainability practices, according to a company press release.

"Sustainability is one of Verso's founding principles and is integral to the decisions we make across our business every day," said Becky Burris, Verso VP of environmental, health, safety,and sustainability. "As we seek to reduce our environmental footprint, we challenge ourselves and our suppliers to find new and better ways to use resources more efficiently and further reduce air emissions, water discharges and waste."

The Stevens Point Mill was judged in a competitive process on a comprehensive range of key sustainability areas, including energy, water, waste management, emissions and transportation, as well as educational and community outreach. The Green Masters Award designation is the highest tier attainable in this competitive process and is only made available to Green Masters Program participants scoring in the top 20% of all program participants, based on points awarded for sustainability practices in these key sustainability areas.

The Stevens Point Mill produces specialty papers for food, beverage, and consumer goods applications. The mill works within stringent operational standards, constantly striving to improve internal processes, and has invested in continuous improvement methodology that has led to a number of successful sustainability projects.

Notable accomplishments for the Stevens Point Mill in 2015:

• Carbon Emissions Reduction: Two-year reduction of 8.8% in carbon emissions produced per ton of paper produced
• Water Usage Reduction: Two-year reduction of nearly 19% of total water usage per ton of paper manufactured
• Total Energy Usage Reduction: Nearly 4% reduction in energy usage over prior year per ton of paper manufactured
• Transportation Sustainability: Over 86% of shipments use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay transportation partners.