Eucalyptus Pulp & Paper in Spain: towards sustainability

A couple of weeks ago ASPAPEL (Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Pasta, Papel y Cartón) made public the Second Edition of a Sustainability Report (PDF, 5.2 MB) summarising the state-of-the-art for the Pulp & Paper industrial chain in Spain for the triennium 2004-2006.

This report is the result of a Public Consultation Process involving not just the Spanish Pulp & Paper Industry but also representative stakeholders concerned by sustainability as governmental agencies, large paper consumers, landowners, trade unions, non governmental organisations and universities, whose proposals and concerns have been incorporated into the current edition or have positively contributed to the addition of new criteria & indicators for a better monitoring of the sector within the frame of this ongoing participatory process.

ASPAPEL - Papermaking Sustainability Receipt 2008
(Click image to download, PDF 5.2MB)

The opinions and contributions made during the Consultation Process were assessed, validated and verified as accurate and relevant by Bureau Veritas Certification, an independent third party with the role of securing neutrality of all contributions and providing a guarantee of transparency and traceability for the information and data processed.

Many of the macro-magnitudes presented in this report throw some light on key points for Spanish Pulp & Paper Industry Sustainability, as size of timber resources and timber sourcing rates, employment statistics for supply chains, sustainability of forest management practices, positive externalities derived from carbon sink effects, greenhouse gas emissions at mills, water & chlorine use, progresses with ISO & EMAS environmental management systems at industrial processes, residues and subproducts of pulp and paper-making, fibre recycling and a long etc.

EUCALYPTOLOGICS' staff frequently receives inquiries from concerned citizens worldwide about the sustainability of Eucalyptus cultivated forests wondering if the information provided by some media and some of the commonly spread general knowledge are accurate enough. It has been estimated there are some 300 myths on Eucalyptus cultivation that do not resist a logical examination or should at least be put into quarantine status.

Due to the insistence of one of our worried readers, there it goes a first batch of commented macro-magnitudes (facts) in a group of seven.

EUCALYPTUS "TAKING OVER THE WORLD"? Nope.

MYTH: Eucalyptus monocultures are taking over and destroying natural forests in Spain
FACT: +50% cellulosic pulpwood is produced in just 3% of Spanish forestland

Fig. 1: Forestland acreage in Spain and pulpwood resources (Click image to enlarge)



SPANISH FOREST INDUSTRY "PULPING THE SOUTH"? Nope.

MYTH: Spanish Pulp & Paper Industry is "Pulping the South"
FACT: 75% of mill capacity in Spain is fulfilled with locally grown timber, majority of which is Eucalyptus

Fig. 2: Timber resources used by Spanish pulp & paper industry. (Click image to enlarge)


GROWING EUCALYPTUS IS EVIL? Nope.

MYTH: Eucalyptus cultivation only creates irreversible negative environmental impacts
FACT: 1 hectare of Eucalyptus cultivated forest stores 580% more CO2 than the average hectare of forestland in Spain

Fig. 3: CO2 storage in Spanish forestlands. (Click image to enlarge)


EUCALYPTUS PULP MILLS ARE "ECOLOGICAL CRIMINALS"? Nope.

MYTH: Spanish pulp & paper industry is too pollutant and must be closed or relocated

FACT: 93% Cellulosic pulp mills in Spain are into Sustainability & Environmental Certification Processes for their factory processes and supply chains

Fig. 4: Custody-chain certified pulp mills and supply chains in Spain. (Click image to enlarge)


GROWING EUCALYPTUS IS NEGATIVE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT? Nope.

MYTH: Eucalyptus cultivation is an environmental catastrophe

FACT: Professionally managed Eucalyptus cultivated forests in Spain are certified to a 94% by third parties as sustainably managed under PEFC or FSC standards

Fig. 5: Sustainable management certification impact on industry managed timberland acreage. (Click image to enlarge)


EUCALYPTUS PULP MILLS WASTE AND POLLUTE WATER WITH NO CONTROL? Nope.

MYTH: Eucalyptus pulp mills are voracious consumers of water beyond what is acceptable
FACT: Eco-efficiency policies at Spanish pulp & paper mills yielded 1 million extra tonnage and 41% less water use since 1992

Fig. 6: Trends of water consumption and waste water generation at Spanish pulp & paper mills (1990-2006). (Click image to enlarge)

We are firmly convinced a good amount of myth propagators are just missinformed individuals with a narrow view of forestry in general and the interconnections of forestry, environment, industry and ecology in particular.

EUCALYPTOLOGICS must contribute to a proper dissemination of sound information and to the education of general audience on these important topics no matter if at local, regional, national or global scale. And renewable, recyclable and sustainable primary resources as Eucalyptus timber is can achieve the category of strategic from many standpoints. Our overpopulated greenish Gaia needs of a wise use of its finite resources to support itself in the long term or it will perish.

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

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Eucalyptus, not just timber: ecological restoration via phytoremediation

Ecological restoration... by planting Eucalyptus

(Ironías al darle la vuelta a la tortilla... verde)

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com

EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Trees with bad press, frequently associated to ecological degradation, soil and/or water depletion or the already too wasted mantra "nothing grows under gum trees", Eucalyptus can be exactly the opposite. Today we see a case of phytoremediation in which these trees are used in three different but complementary ways.

1) Eucalyptus as fast growing pioneer species to cover denuded soils

Fig. 1: Terraces of an abandoned copper mine are progressively afforested with Eucalyptus (in this case, E. globulus ssp. globulus)

• Their fast growing new vegetation cover will contribute to minimise soil erosion and lixiviation of hazardous heavy metals to aquifers or river systems by controlling direct rainfall impact effects on bare soils and by retaining it with their root systems.

• Their plasticity adapting to different site conditions allows them to grow on extremely recalcitrant soils for plant colonisation overcoming extreme acidity and lack on nutrients with a proper preparation of the new planting area.

• Their extreme efficiency producing biomass from limited resources allows a quick deposition of organic matter on denuded soils, creating new superficial horizons (topsoil) to substitute those eliminated by mining operations, which will later allow successful survival of other types of vegetation in places where it was previously impossible.

2) Eucalyptus as recyclers of organic residues generated by different industries

Fig. 2: Soil ammendement with residual urban sewage sludges helps Eucalyptus establishment via input of easily available nutrients

• Their ability to survive on extremely unhospitable soils is aided by the application of different elements able to ammend critical soil properties and favour a quick development of a new tree cover.

• Solid fractions of residues from urban sewage water treatment plants, milk processing industry sediments, residual solid fractions from cellulosic pulp mill industrial processes, and calcium carbonate rich residual crushed shells from seafood processing industries find a safe place in which to degrade and release the initial load of nutrients that will be recycled by the trees and later added to the soil as degrading biomass to close a new cycle of nutrients. In addition, these residues now turned into subproducts do contribute to favourable physical and chemical properties of this artificial soil.

3) Eucalyptus as rhizofilters (green filters)

Fig. 3: Eucalyptus tree-belts acting as rhizofilters on heavy metal contaminated streams

• Properly designed additional Eucalyptus tree belts strategically arranged along natural or artificial drainage lines act as a green filter when their roots capture heavy metal lixiviates that will be stored in tree biomass, avoiding immediate hazards of water contamination for nearby agricultural or urban areas.

• In the medium term the accumulation of toxic water in decantation pools will be minimised, and with the help of other resistant herbaceous plantings and these and other fast growing trees cultivated in sequential stages, new soils will start to develop where there was none.

(1+2+3) Eucalyptus as successful tools for Ecological Restoration

Ecological Restoration by planting eucalypts yields in this practical case the following positive externalities:

1. Soil erosion control
2. Safe disposal of the organic residues generated by four different industrial lines
3. Immobilisation of heavy metals and other hazardous chemicals
4. Formation of a new soil that will support vegetation in future
   

Without forgetting a couple of classical benefits arising from tree growing:

1. Carbon sequestration, contributing to minimise climate change
2. The extra of timber production in a previously improductive land

What a trip... from "nothing grows under gum trees"... to "nothing would grow without Eucalyptus". Ironies of bioengineering.

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

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© 2007 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

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