Investing in cleaner water in the Americas
Since 2018, we have invested in building water treatment plans at our mills in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.
As part of our ambitious target to reduce Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD*) in our water discharge, we have made significant investments in best-practice water treatment in the Americas region. Water is a medium that helps us to form paper from pulp – a mass of fibres. We return some 90% of the water back to nature after water treatment. The rest of the water evaporates from the process and some is bound in the product.
Most of the time, we return the water we use back to the same water body we take it from. Therefore it is important for us that we manage the water quality of our discharge. We do this by treating the water in the water treatment plants and we work to constantly improve the discharge parameter with COD being the most important.
Since 2018, we have invested in building water treatment plans at our Barbosa, Barranquilla (Colombia), Cerro Gordo (Mexico) and Uberaba (Brazil) mills. All new water treatment plants are now running, delivering towards the Group target of 60% reduction of COD by 2025 in comparison with the baseline year 2005.
The COD reduction efficiency at the water treatment plants is currently at 95% in Barbosa, 87% in Barranquilla, 92% In Cerro Gordo and 97% in Uberaba.
Smurfit Kappa's aim is to contribute to a world with sustainable water management, supporting the concept of circularity in water use. Learn more about our water commitments.