DS Smith Paper Mill in Georgia Saluted for Its Environmental Stewardship
- Published: July 27, 2021
Sustainable packaging leader DS Smith’s paper mill in southeast Georgia has earned top honors as an industry leader in energy efficiency.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently recognized DS Smith’s mill in Riceboro, the first ISO-50001 certified facility in the pulp, paper and paper products industry in North America.
It’s one of only 145 sites in the U.S. to have received that certification since the ISO’s program began 2012, designed to audit and highlight companies that embrace effective energy management systems. According to the most recent ISO survey, it had certified 260 companies worldwide in the pulp, paper and paper products sector, and none was in the U.S. – until DS Smith’s Riceboro.
The Riceboro facility, one of the largest employers in Liberty Country, is considered one of the nation’s cleanest effluent paper mills, producing Kraft linerboard.
An ISO-approved audit team visited the mill, certifying that it uses an Energy Management Systems (EnMS), based on the ISO-50001 internationally recognized framework for integrating energy management into its existing processes. An EnMS system reportedly enables organizations to better manage its energy performance to operate more efficiently.
DS Smith recently announced a series of carbon reduction targets, including a science-based target that requires a 40 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions per ton of product by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, and a commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
In addition to its climate action commitment, DS Smith recently announced its $140 million research and development and innovation package to accelerate its work in the circular economy. The new investment underpins DS Smith’s new circular economy led sustainability strategy, Now and Next, which pledges to manufacture 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging by 2023 and to take a billion pieces of problem plastics off supermarket shelves by 2025.
The Riceboro paper mill team was supported in adopting the DS Smith Group EnMS by RMK Sustainability Group. TUV-Rheinland, an accredited member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), conducted the audit.
For more information, visit https://www.dssmith.com.
