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| Press room >Press releases | |
| Iberpapel joins the ‘Paper bag’ initiative as a sustainable alternative to the plastic bag | |
Madrid, 9 June 2010
Grupo Iberpapel has joined the so-called ‘Paper bag’ initiative, the aim of which is to promote the use of paper shopping bags as a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable alternative to the plastic bag. In addition, the company has designed two new paper grades targeted specifically at this market segment. It is the only national paper maker to sell some of these grades.The paper bag has a negative carbon footprint, making it the more environmentally- friendly option. One kilo of paper stores 1.3 kilos of CO2. The forests planted to make pulp act like huge carbon dioxide sinks and help to halt climate change. The 430,000 hectares devoted to producing wood in Spain for paper production fix 7.5 tonnes of CO2 each year, approximately 2% of total emissions.
Iberpapel’s participation in this campaign marks another milestone in the company’s commitment to the environment and sustainable development, a record which has been acknowledged internationally and which translates into quantifiable milestones such as reduced power consumption, lower overall carbon emissions, reduced water consumption and lower waste generation. In the past decade, Iberpapel has devoted 40% of its capex to environmental management.
The ‘Paper bag’ initiative
- According to data published on the initiative’s website (www.labolsadepapel.com), based on the IPSOS survey conducted in Spain and another six European nations, “79% of consumers believe that paper is nicer to hold and touch; 93% agree that paper is sustainable and should be used more in packaging; 86% of citizens say that given a choice between paper or another material for a given product, they would choose paper.”
- Several market studies published by the Paper bag initiative find that “80% of consumers believe that a brand printed on paper looks nicer and more attractive, 85% of passersby pay attention to messages printed on the paper bags they see on the street, and that the paper bag creates emotional bonds between the store and its customers who reuse them to carry other, preferably personal items.”