Material outputs
The main output from the paper mills is of course paper. This includes about 2 kg of cores and plugs per tonne paper, which are considered and weighed as part of the net saleable product. The corrugated board plants produce corrugated board and boxes. The average moisture content of the saleable product is 8.6% for Semichemical Fluting and 7.9% for Kraftliner, 7.9% for Testliner and Wellenstoff, 7-8% for corrugated board. The main saleable by-products from the production of Kraftliner are tall oil and turpentine. These are included in the report.
Residues
All residues are reported as wet weight, separated according to their basic nature. Residues are only reported where they leave the system boundaries (i.e., where they are removed from and managed away from the site). As the mill is considered as a blackbox, energy and emissions associated with managing residues internally (onsite) are included within the gate-to-gate inventory data. From the residues of the recycled paper mills, which are mainly rejects from the pulp preparation, it is estimated that about a third is due to rejected materials that were associated with the previous use of the paper (for example, staples, paper clips, tags, adhesive labels, unrecovered fibres, etc). The remaining two thirds is material that is not in any way associated with the previous use of the paper (for example, foreign items such as textiles, plastic packaging, glass, sand and grit, etc). The majority of the rejects are either sent for energy recovery or for recycling.
Of the categories of waste described for the mills:
• Calcium carbonate is primarily reported as a residue from the production of primary fibre-based paper, less commonly so for the recycled paper grades. The majority of the calcium carbonate residue is recycled or used as a soil improver. Only a small proportion is sent for energy recovery.
• Inorganic ashes are reported as a residue for all paper grades. A significant proportion of this residue stream is recycled or used as a soil improver.
• Green liquor sludge is primarily reported as a residue from the production of primary fibre-based paper, less commonly so for the recycled paper grades. The majority of the green liquor residue is recycled or used as a soil improver.
• Organic primary fibre sludge is primarily reported as a residue from the production of recovered fibre-based paper, less commonly so for the primary fibre paper grades. A significant proportion of the organic primary fibre sludge residue is recycled or used as a soil improver. The rest is sent for energy recovery, with only a small proportion of sent to landfill.
• Lime mud is primarily reported as a residue from the production of primary fibre-based paper, less commonly so for the recycled paper grades. The majority of the lime mud residue is recycled or used as a soil improver.
• Organic biological treatment sludge is reported as a residue for all paper grades. The majority of the organic biological treatment sludge residue is recycled or used as a soil improver.
• The majority of the lubricants and oil residue stream are sent for recycling.
In the life cycle inventory, only the quantity of waste is reported. Further details on the waste management solution applied to each waste stream have been collected but are not published in this report. If such details are required, then users of the dataset are encouraged to contact FEFCO or Cepi Containerboard directly to request this information.
Allocation of residues to paper grades when a mill produces more than one paper grade
Data for material outputs are based on measurements. These have to be done because the mills have to pay for landfill and incineration or get paid for residues that are reused or recycled, like lubricants, according to the weight. When allocation was necessary, this was done according to causality or according to the mass of the different papers.