Environmental milestones
According to the operating policy of Myllykoski Paper, environmental protection activities are an essential part of our business and daily operations. In fact, environmental protection has a long history at Myllykoski Paper. The company has always taken responsibility for the quality and state of the environment. The company currently sees growing environmental requirements as a challenge to which it is better equipped to respond by applying the latest know-how and technology.
Important milestones in the history of the company's environmental protection have been investments in the chemi-mechanical treatment of effluents at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, the start of biological effluent treatment and the building of a natural gas fired power plant in the late 1980s. Of particular importance from the environmental perspective is the modernisation of the thermal power plant in which the coal-fired boiler was replaced by two natural gas boilers and a fluidised bed boiler which will burn sludge from the mill, combustible waste and biofuels. The investment brought a significant reduction in the amounts of landfill waste and airborne emissions. Year 2002 the waste water treatment plant was enlarged due to increased loading.
Myllykoski Paper (then known as Myllykoski Oy) was among the first Finnish companies to sign the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Charter on Sustainable Development in 1991, and it was on this charter that the company based its first environmental policy. At the same time, cooperation was initiated with the personnel on environmental protection issues by setting up an environmental committee consisting of representatives of the different employee groups.
Environmental management guidelines were integrated right from the start into the ISO 9002 standard quality system certified in 1995. The environmental management system complying with the ISO 14001 standard was granted certification in autumn 1999. The environmental management system covers all operations at Myllykoski Paper. The system includes the operating policy, environmental principles and objectives, as well as the action programmes drawn up for their attainment. The management of chain of custody of wood was certified year 2001 according to the finnish forest certification system. The practical functionality of the environmental management system is monitored by regular internal and external audits.