Click here to download our Sustainability ® PDF.
Sustainability is in Our Nature
At Atlantic, we recognize the monumental impact that packaging and materials have on the global environment. For this reason, we strive every day to provide packaging solutions that meet our customer’s performance expectation, while helping them reach and exceed their sustainability objectives.
Our approach to sustainability goes beyond the environmentally friendly products we provide; it’s engrained in our culture of continuous improvement and our commitment to market leading innovation that drives sustainability forward. Take a look at the many ways Atlantic contributes to Sustainability.
Atlantic Sustainability
Sustainable Packaging Products
Atlantic’s 100% recycled corrugated packaging products offer customers a truly sustainable packaging option. Compared to paper packaging products made from virgin fibers, choosing to use recycled packaging not only saves trees, it also saves water, energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
As part of our commitment to the environment, Atlantic’s paper mills only manufacture 100% recycled paper used to manufacture corrugated packaging products.
Sustainability Through Innovation
If you’re not innovating, you’re not moving forward. That’s why innovation is a cornerstone at Atlantic. Our team is constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve our processes, our designs, our systems and of course, our products.
Through innovation, we’ve been able to significantly impact our corporate sustainability and help our customers achieve their environmental objectives. Our SmartCorr high performance lightweight recycled paper is a great example of Atlantic innovation driving sustainability.
Sustainable Design
Corrugated packaging is versatile and allows each package to be specifically engineered to maximize performance and merchandising throughout its supply chain, while minimizing material and its carbon footprint.
Our experienced structural design team is skilled at designing packaging that is efficient while meeting our customers’ performance specifications. We work with our customers early in the design process, developing ideas that make sense, designing re-usable packaging whenever possible.
Renewable Energy & Resources
As a recycled paper manufacturer, it’s critical that we manage and minimize our use of precious resources like water and energy.
Water
Choosing 100% recycled corrugated packaging products, compared to virgin fiber paper, saves more than 4 billion gallons of water per year. That’s enough to fill more than 6,000 Olympic size swimming pools. In addition, we look for ways to further reduce our fresh water consumption. Here are just a few of the things we do at Atlantic to reduce our water usage:
- We have water recycling, steam capture and condensation recovery programs at all of our paper mills
- We recycle the water used in our pulping process to reduce our freshwater requirements
- Waste water from our plants is treated until it meets or exceeds all sewer bylaw requirements making sure no contaminants are discharged into sewers
Energy
We recognize that manufacturing is an energy intensive business and we’re dedicated to minimizing our energy use in all facets of our company. From running our Mills as energy efficiently as possible, to encouraging employees to live more sustainable work and personal lives, we’re focused on reducing energy use.
Compared to virgin fiber mills, Atlantics 100% recycled corrugated products save enough energy in a year to power more than 95,500 homes. Here are some of the ways Atlantic is working to reduce energy usage.
- We have two full-time energy managers as part of our team
- We utilize biogas production and recovery
- We are partners in a cogeneration facility in Whitby, helping to produce electricity for Ontario
- Our paper mills use high efficiency motors, minimizing the amount of energy used
- Over the past few years, we have updated all of the lighting in our facilities to high efficiency lighting, reducing our lighting energy consumption by nearly 50%
- We installed solar panels on the roof tops of three of our facilities, helping to further generate power
Reducing Green House Gas Emissions (GHG)
Making the choice to use 100% recycled corrugated packaging products releases fewer emissions than virgin fiber products. The total Green House Gas emissions eliminated through Atlantic’s use and production of recycled packaging is approximately 324,900 tons per year, which equates to keeping 108,300 cars off the road.
Energy efficiency plays a big role in reducing Atlantic’s GHG emissions, but we don’t stop there. Transportation is a large part of our business, and to reduce the amount of emissions associated with transportation, we’ve aim to make sure that over 90% of our paper fiber comes from domestic sources, minimizing the distance our trucks travel. For the 5-year period starting 2010, we have tracked our GHG intensity reduction to be 11%.
Recycling
Recycling plays an important role in Atlantic’s sustainability initiatives. As a manufacturer of 100% recycled paper, we process the equivalent of 50% of what is collected in Ontario’s blue box program. The fiber we process keeps more than 22,800 trucks worth of material out of landfills.
Certifications
Atlantic is proud to have FSC® certification at all of our box plants and paper mills.
Sustainable Partnerships
Our mission to be a sustainable company goes beyond the walls of Atlantic. We pride ourselves on working with vendors and suppliers that have sustainable objectives and practices entrenched into their organizations.
We also work with sustainability focused organizations and associations like PPEC, FSC, Fibre box association, the Carbon Farmer and the AICC, helping to drive industry and social sustainability initiatives.
A Culture of Sustainability
In order to succeed in our sustainability initiatives, we strive to have every Atlantic team member involved in and work towards minimizing our environmental footprint. Sustainability is a never ending commitment, and we infuse sustainable practices into every facet of our organization. We take pride in educating our employees on sustainable practices, so they can make a difference both at work and in their personal lives.
