Domtar Sustainability: Just as Bright, with Less Bleach

Getting your supplier to help you use less of their product may seem counterintuitive, but that is exactly what Domtar’s procurement team did with our pulp bleaching chemical supplier. And thanks to the strategic partnership we have built with them, they agreed to help us.

By leveraging our supplier’s chemical expertise and our process knowledge, we identified opportunities to improve chemical efficiency through audits at all of our mills with bleach plants.

Our Continuous Improvement team used these bleaching chemical efficiency opportunities to introduce new tools for our mills to use in managing projects. Our approach to continuous improvement has been well received by our mills, who have started using the approach to manage their own projects. This self-sustaining momentum is further empowering our employees to make positive changes in their facilities.

While more work remains to make progress at all of our mills, early signs indicate that the bleaching chemical efficiency efforts are paying off. Our use of bleaching chemicals decreased 3 percent per unit of bleached pulp production in 2016 compared to the previous three-year average. And the good news is this progress was realized without compromising pulp brightness and quality.

Furthermore, our employees now have the tools and the initiative to make smarter use of bleaching chemicals to lower our costs, balance pulp yield and quality, and improve our environmental footprint.

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Domtar’s 2017 Sustainability Report details the company’s endeavor to take a longer term view of creating and preserving value for our shareholders, customers, employees and communities.  For more inspiring stories about Domtar's sustainability efforts, visit the Domtar Newsroom. To view the full 2017 Sustainability Report click here.