Brazil is covered with about
550m hectares of forests. It is the second largest forest
area in the planet, just smaller than Russia’s. This
makes the pulp and paper industry one of the most expressive
sectors in the country’s economy. Forestry, however,
must be developed sustainably and where it is most recommendable
for total environmental preservation.
Today, the country’s production in the industry is
approximately 6m tons of eucalyptus grandis pulp yearly. This
accounts for half the world production of this kind. The process
required to obtain pulp generates residues containing pollutants
extremely harmful for rivers and native forests.
Aware of the problem, Iguaçu Celulose did not spare
funds to develop a policy for environmental balance in all
areas where it operates. All the raw material employed in
Iguaçu Celulose mills comes from reforested areas.
As many as 1,200 hectares are reforested yearly to attend
the annual demand of 850 hectares of forest material. In addition
to its concern about where the raw material comes from, Iguaçu
is famous for its efforts to recover the areas degraded by
residues from wood milling.
Investments in research to find non-pollutant solutions for
the pulp production in Iguaçu mill in Piraí
do Sul, Paraná State have greatly benefited agriculture.
Thanks to a technology developed to treat the lime mud, previously
discarded, is now recycled as soil amendment.
The project, carried out in partnership with IAP –
Paraná State Environmental Institute - in 1997, has
helped to recover a large stretch of the native forest in
that region. The old landfill in the unit has been planted
species like eucalyptus and black wattle (Acacia mearnsii
De Wild), which promote fast coverage and rooting in the landfill
top layers. The shade, moisture and organic matter, provided
by these trees, promote the spontaneous growth of the region’s
native species. Today native plants substitute exotic species,
which expedite the area recovery process.
In addition to reforestation, an artificial lake called Lagoa
Zero was built to integrate the unit’s effluent treatment
system and to store any runoff contaminants for phytoremediation.
Thanks to Iguaçu Celulose’s efforts toward environmental
preservation the Company was awarded the 9th Ecologic Expression
award.
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