Sappi’s Cloquet Dissolving Pulp Facility Earns 91.5% Higg FEM Score
Sappi, the producer of dissolving pulp sold under the brand name Verve, earned a 91.5 percent score when it completed the Higg Facility Environmental Management (FEM) verification audit at its Cloquet, Minn. mill.
Operating since 1898, the mill can produce pulp used for making paper or dissolving pulp for use in textile products. Sappi put $170 million in 2012 into a project that helped the facility expand into dissolving wood pulp production. The Cloquet mill cranks out 370,000 metric tons of dissolving pulp each year and employs about 720. Textile suppliers use Sappi’s lyocell-grade Verve Advantage product and Verve Performer, a viscose-grade option.
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The Higg FEM, developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), is a sustainability assessment tool that standardizes how manufacturing facilities measure and evaluate their annual environmental performance using standard criteria. Manufacturers, brands and retailers use the FEM to understand not just how their facilities perform but also how to improve their eco impacts, according to the SAC.
“As a global leader in dissolving pulp manufacturing, we are excited that our commitment to the sustainable manufacture of our Sappi Verve product is confirmed by the SAC Higg FEM results,” Tom Radovich, managing director of Sappi North America’s Cloquet mill, said. He added that the company is stepping up its work with chemicals management practices to better meet the needs of a circular economy.
“The Cloquet mill has always been a key part of our environmental stewardship and sustainability initiatives and we will continue to deliver relevant solutions and, in the process, look for innovative ways to strengthen our position,” Radovich said.
The dissolving pulp facility, a charter member of the Alliance of Chemical Textile Recycling, received “a verified score” of 100 percent across energy, water and wastewater management.
“The Cloquet Higg FEM audit results, once again, confirms our vision to providing a sustainable fiber of choice in our Verve dissolving pulp,” Mohamed Mansoor, executive vice president of Sappi Pulp, said. “This aligns with our ethos of a commitment to people, planet and prosperity.”
Sappi is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with over 12,000 employees in manufacturing facilities in nine countries on three continents. The company is a global provider of everyday materials made from wood-based fiber from renewable resources, with raw materials including dissolving pulp, wood pulp and biomaterials. End-use products include packaging and specialty papers, graphic papers, casting and release papers, as well as forestry products, manufactured from wood-based fiber sourced from sustainably managed forests and plantations.
