Claire Fontaine - papeterie

Clairefontaine continues its actions to safeguard the environment

Paper pulp

For its papers, Clairefontaine used only pulps certified for their environmental management as per the PEFC or FSC labels. They are produced from wood cut during forest thinning, from sawmill offcuts and from farmed forests. Their traceability is certified following one of these two standards.
 
Clairefontaine does not purchase any elemental chlorine bleached pulp, and tests in its laboratories all types of pulp which can represent ecological progress.

Clairefontaine takes part in the harmonious development of French forests by upkeeping several hundred hectares of fir and spruce trees in the Vosges.

Energies

Paper production in particular drying, has important needs in terms of energy (50 tonnes of steam per hour and 12 000 KW for Clairefontaine).

Clairefontaine uses natural gas to produce its steam; thus no sulphur residues are emitted into the atmosphere during combustion. The carbon dioxide produced is not emitted into the atmosphere either, it is recycled for the use of the mineral filler PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate) which gives its whiteness and solidity to paper.

By equiping its power station with two steam turbines and a cogeneration unit with a gas turbine, Clairefontaine has become more than 80 % self sufficient in electricity, which reduces proportionally global warming due to the production and transport of this quantity of energy.

Water and effluent

The Papeteries de Clairefontaine are equiped with a biological water purification plant which eliminates almost all the matter present in the water. Thus flora and fauna are protected at the very exit of the Papeteries de Clairefontaine mill.

That leaves us with the effluent which represents à little less than 1 % of the production of the site; roughly 5 tonnes per day. Clairefontaine is once again a pioneer in transforming the biological sludge into stabilized compost after filtration of the effluent.

Christened Clairagra, this compost is approved by the Ministry of the Environment, which means it is no longer waste. Moreover it is spread on local fields and thus improves soil.

Production and conversion

From pulp selection through production to the treatment of the finished product, Clairefontaine papers and articles are developped and controlled on the basis of the main ecological criterai :

• reduction of energy consumption and emissions into air or water during the production process
• limitation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and dangerous substances in inks, glues and other solutions used in printing
• systematic treatment of all production waste through selective collection and valorization of waste
• recyclability of finished products through the use of renewable materials. Naturally, Clairefontaine papers are totally recyclable

Recycling

Clairefontaine favours the use of recycled fibres (waste paper) in its EVERBAL mill which produces card, covers, and office and filing papers with a record output of 100 kilos of new paper from 160 kilos of waste paper.

As a result there is little waste to be disposed of, wheras other production processes involving deinking generate considerable loss of fibres and mineral filler in the region of 20 to 30 %, so much waste which has to be disposed of. The Everbal site is certified ISO 9001 and has obtained the APUR and Blue Angel labels as well as the approval of the Water Agency guaranteeing the respect of the environment and managed use of water.