b'SUSTAINABILITYSustainability: Challenges, strategies, digitalization, and solutions for the tissue industryBy Claudio J. Muoz, Director of Marketing-Americas, Fabio Perini North AmericaSustainability initiatives rightfully continue to dominate global focus, and the pulp and paper industrylong known for massive energy consumptionis once again being closely scrutinized. Manufacturers that routinely budget anywhere from 10-40% of production costs strictly for energy use will raise environmental red flags.1 In response, tissue converters and manufacturers are using smart machinery and digital technologies to capture data that provides insights into energy efficienciesand energy wastefrom the granular equipment level through the broader facility and even into the supply chain. And it is working! A recent study issued by the EuropeanFigure 1. Eliminating plastic packaging is just one way tissue manufacturers and converters are contributing to long-term sustainability.Commissions Joint Research Center (JRC) reports that tissue manufacturersconverting, production, packaging, andby 2035.3Nearly half of the plastic and converters that implement bestdistribution.about 260 million tonswill be available technologies (BATs) andused strictly for packaging.3This practices could easily decrease theirFiber sourcing, management,disproportionate over-reliance on energy consumption by 14% andreplenishment, and alternatives oftenplastic packaging is fueling global greenhouse gas emissions by 62% overtop the list of concernswhich isplastics legislation.levels documented in 2015.2 logical given the paper industrysManufacturers dependence upon them. However, theSeveral EU nations are cracking downthat routinely However, reducing energybroader view of sustainability revealson single-use plastics, placing taxbudget consumption isnt the sole issue. Aseveral more opportunities for betterlevies on plastics use, and enforcinganywhere natural tension exists between the pulpecological stewardship within tissuemeasures surrounding recyclability. Infrom 10-40% and paper industry and its productsconverting and manufacturing. the U.S., plastics producers are formingof production end-users. While consumers dependcoalitions and adopting businesscosts strictly on the tissue products the industryPIVOTING AWAY FROM PLASTICS: SUSTAINABLEmodels intended to optimize a range offor energy produces, they are also sensitivePACKAGING ALTERNATIVES environmental, economic, and societaluse will raise to the ecological stressors posedAnnual global plastics production isoutcomes. One such coalition, theenvironmental by the processes involved in tissueprojected to reach 650 million tonsNew Plastics Economy, is made upred flags.78 TISSUE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL'