Water
Without water, we cannot produce the paper we need for our packaging solutions. We are mainly a processor of water and not a significant net consumer. We focus on the quality of the water we emit back into the water system.
Smurfit Westrock is mainly a processor of water, and almost all of the water we processed was used by our 62 paper and board mills, and the remainder was used predominantly by the 459 converting plants. The majority of the water we use is returned to nature and the rest either evaporates or is bound to products or residuals.
We also reuse water several times, after which it is processed in water treatment facilities and returned to the environment. Water treatment forms an important part of our approach to the bioeconomy. We use bacteria to clean the water, and the biogas made during that process fuels some of our onsite CHP plants. Water-cleaning sludges can be used for other water treatment processes or in agriculture.
Committed to Sustainable Water Stewardship
We assess water-related risks at our paper mills through a program of water risk assessments using geo-location through the Aqueduct tool. In addition, Smurfit Kappa historically combined the results obtained from an Aqueduct assessment with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (‘WRF’) and used this result in a site specific water risk assessment developed to align with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures ('TCFD').