glossary

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AOX: Adsorbable Organic Halogens. Collective term for the halogen compounds (chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine) bound to organic substances, for example in waste water from the mill. The compounds arise when bleaching with chlorine-containing chemicals although they can also occur naturally and are potentially detrimental to water quality. The lower the AOX level the better.
Biofuels / Biomass: Fuels from renewable raw materials such as bark, black liquor, logging residues and effluent sludge.
Blue Angel: A German environmental label, which covers many products, including paper. It takes a ‘cradle to grave’ approach, considering manufacture and disposal as well as product use. Paper must be 100% recycled with no heavy metals or hazardous chemicals. Blue Angel is popular in Germany but less common in the UK. See: www.blauer-engel.de
Carbon Footprint: The amount of carbon dioxide (or equivalent greenhouse gases) related to a product or service, for a defined scope. For example, emissions caused by extraction of raw materials, manufacture (energy use) and transport might be included in a carbon footprint.
Carbon Offsetting / Carbon Neutral: Organisations can calculate their carbon footprint and pay to ‘offset’ it by planting trees or by investing in energy-efficient technologies in developing countries, which are intended to absorb or reduce carbon emissions by an equivalent amount. There are a number of schemes that can facilitate carbon offsetting. ‘CarbonNeutral’ is a trademark of one such scheme, run by the Carbon Neutral Company.
Chain of Custody (CoC): The means of tracking a product along the supply chain. For instance, being able to trace paper from the forest of origin, through pulp and paper mill, paper merchant and printer to the end user. Often a third party audits the Chain of Custody system, as with the FSC and PEFC schemes.
CHP: Combined Heat and Power. A power-generating unit that provides heat and electricity on site rather than drawing energy from the grid. CHP units can have the benefit of proportionally lower emissions to air than power stations. Many paper mills use CHP.
CO2: Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility. The continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large, including the environment.
Dioxins: Dioxins are organochlorines, unwanted and toxic by-products formed in papermaking when chlorine from bleaching combines with molecules in wood. They are also formed during the manufacture of PVC. Dioxins have been linked with hormone disruption and an increased risk of cancer. Both the paper and plastics industries have made major reductions to the release of dioxins in recent years.
DIP: De-inked pulp. Pulp consisting of fibre from paper previously printed, which has had the ink removed.
ECF: Elemental Chlorine Free. Paper pulp bleached without the use of elemental chlorine but instead using some chlorine dioxide, along with non-chlorine agents such as oxygen. Pulps using ECF methods contain up to 0.5kg of AOX per tonne of air-dried pulp.
EMAS: Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. The European Union’s regulated environmental management system. Similar to ISO14001 but also requires public reporting. See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas
EMS: Environmental Management System. A business process that ensures that environmental matters are addressed through a documented system.
Energy Source: Fuels such as coal, gas, oil, peat, bio-fuels (such as bark) or electricity generated by a combined heat and power unit or bought in from the grid. The source of energy can influence the air emissions – i.e. coal produces higher emissions than gas.
EU Eco-label (The Flower): European Union scheme to promote ‘green’ products, including paper. It uses a stringent life cycle analysis to identify where a product might harm the environment (manufacture, distribution, disposal etc.) taking into account various factors such as energy usage and emissions. Relatively rare for paper products. See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel
FFCS: Finnish Forest Certification System. A scheme for auditing forestry operations in Finland, taking into account the effects on the environment. Now part of the PEFC scheme.
FSC: Forest Stewardship Council. An international organisation promoting responsible forest management. FSC has developed principles for forest management which may be used for certifying the management of forest holdings, and a system of tracing, verifying and labelling timber and wood products which originate from FSC-certified forests. The FSC has the support of many environmental groups. See: www.fsc.org
Greenwash: Term sometimes applied to unfounded, misleading or inflated claims about environmental credentials.
HCVF: High Conservation Value Forest. An area of forest considered to contain important attributes, e.g. a habitat for endangered species.
ISO14001: The standard published by the International Standards Organisation specifying the requirements of an environmental management system. See: www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/index.html
Life Cycle Assessment/Analysis (LCA): A method of evaluating the environmental impact of a product ‘from cradle to grave’, including how it’s made, how it’s used and how it’s disposed of.
Mill Broke: Offcuts and rejected material that has not left the paper mill. Broke is routinely re-pulped and the fibre used in the production of new paper. Mill broke is not normally considered to be true recycled fibre.
Mobius Loop: A recycling logo consisting of a triangle of three arrows. On its own it denotes ‘recyclable’. With a percentage figure in the centre it denotes that the product contains a defined quantity of recycled material.
NAPM Recycled Mark: The National Association of Paper Merchants’ scheme for designating a paper as recycled. See: www.napm.org.uk/recycled_mark.htm
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation. Term applied to organisations such as charities and pressure groups. Environmental NGOs (sometimes referred to as ENGOs) include Friends of the Earth (FoE), the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace.
Nordic Swan: An environmental label encouraging production methods that create minimum environmental impact. Evaluation for paper is based upon strict limits for emissions and effluent from pulp and paper mills. See: www.svanen.nu/Eng/
Old Growth Forest (OGF): Term sometimes applied to old, relatively untouched forest rich in biodiversity. May also be referred to as High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF), pristine or natural forest.
Packaging Waste Regulations: Regulations that require larger users of packaging to recover and recycle a defined amount. Robert Horne complies through a third party scheme. The regulations also dictate the ‘essential requirements’ for packaging placed on the market, such as low heavy metals content and recoverability by recycling or incineration.
Paper Profile: ‘Product declarations’ produced by some paper manufacturers, which lists environmental information for their grades. See: www.paperprofile.com
PAS2020: A publicly available specification that describes the requirements for environmental performance of direct mail campaigns. See: http://www.greendm.co.uk/
PAS2050: A publicly available specification for assessing the carbon footprint of a product over its life-cycle. See: www.carbontrust.co.uk/carbon/briefing/pre-measurement.htm
PCF: Process Chlorine Free. Term sometimes applied to the bleaching of recycled fibre, where TCF bleaching has been used but the pulp cannot be guaranteed to be totally free of chlorine because of bleaching methods previously used to produce virgin fibre.
PEFC: Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. A scheme for auditing forestry operations, taking into account the effects on the environment. See: www.pefc.org
POPAI Green Project: An initiative to promote environmental best practices within the retail marketing industry, for reducing the environmental impact of Point of Purchase displays. See: www.popai.co.uk/greenproject
Post-consumer Waste: Waste that has reached the end user, typically homes and offices.
Pre-consumer Waste: Waste that has left the mill but has not reached the end user. Typically trimmings and rejected material from printers, envelope converters etc.
Phthalates: These are a group of chemicals added to plastics (such as PVC) as a plasticiser in order to make flexible grades. Phthalates are alleged to be hormone disruptors although this has not been conclusively proven.
REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals. EU legislation requiring some companies to register their use of chemicals and other, such as Robert Horne, to pass on relevant information. See: www.hse.gov.uk/reach
Recovered Fibre: A general term for fibre that has been collected for recycling, rather than being sent to landfill. Can include both pre- and post-consumer waste.
SFI: Sustainable Forestry Initiative. A North American forest certification scheme, now endorsed by the PEFC.
Sustainable Development: A way of living and working which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
TCF: Totally Chlorine Free. Paper pulp that is bleached without using chlorine in any form, thus giving an AOX level of zero. The alternative bleaching agents used might be liquid oxygen, hydrogen peroxide or sodium hydroxide.
Threshold: With reference to Chain of Custody systems, where the rolling average of certified fibre used in a product line meets a minimum percentage, then all of the production for that product line can be certified.
Volume Credit: With reference to Chain of Custody systems, where the proportion of the production for a product line can be certified, relative to the amount of certified fibre bought in a defined period.
Woodfree: Woodfree is a description of pulp and paper meaning that they contain little or no mechanically ground fibres. Implies that fibres are chemically treated, thereby eliminating lignin (the substance that binds wood fibres together in the tree) and making the product purer, whiter and stronger. Woodfree is an historical papermaking term shortened from 'groundwood-free' and does not denote a paper or pulp made from materials other than wood.
WWF- International: WWF International is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations. WWF stands for World Wide Fund For Nature. See http://www.panda.org/ WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations.