Fifty years later, Prince George Pulp and Paper – like all of Canfor Pulp’s mills – are leaders in innovation. They manufacture premium pulp and specialty paper products for markets around the world – 85 per cent of our pulp production is premium reinforcing pulp. And the lignin, hemicelluloses and other organic materials that remain after the pulping process are converted into clean, renewable energy that powers our processes and BC’s electricity grid.
The environmental achievements of Canada’s pulp and paper industry are outstanding. Since 2005, we have cut water pollutants by 70%, air pollutants by 52%, waste to landfill by 30% and water use by 30%. Canfor Pulp is part of the Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable, and supports an interactive air kiosk that shows city residents how their air quality is improving.
In 2015, we completed the 32-MW steam turbine at Intercontinental Pulp, which means all three Prince George pulp mills are selling power. We’re closing in on our target to generate a million megawatt hours – reaching 910,993 MWh in 2015.
Canfor Pulp also became the first to use the Valmet Process Quality Vision system to inspect all of the pulp shipped from our Intercontinental and Northwood mills. This is just one more way we can assure pulp customers we are meeting the high standards they need for their increasingly sophisticated products – standards they have come to expect from us.
We were proud to earn FortisBC’s Efficiency in Action Award in the industrial sector in 2015 for upgrades at Prince George Pulp and Paper that reduced our natural gas use by 67,000 gigajoules in the first 18 months alone.
Our interest in innovation goes beyond manufacturing. RISI recognized Canfor Pulp on its Top 50 Power List, saying our cooperative sales and marketing agreement with UPM Pulp “is pushing the envelope with a pioneering sales agreement with Finnish-based UPM, Fiber United, covering four major markets”.
Last February, I was honoured to serve as executive chair of the Games Host Society when the Canada Winter Games came to Prince George. It was a wonderful opportunity to show off the city, our company and our industry.
Canfor was a community sponsor for the Games. We invited 500 high school students from across northern BC to attend some of the most popular events and learn about the wide range of great career opportunities in the modern forest industry. It was a real eye opener for many of the students.
Our industry has a rich history – and I am convinced the best is yet to come. My Dad worked in the industry so I knew it offered plenty of diverse opportunities. I have a mechanical engineering degree, and joined Canfor Pulp in 1989 as a junior engineer and have progressed through multiple engineering, operations and maintenance leadership roles. It was readily apparent that I had made a good choice. Also, being able to raise my family in Prince George made it even better.
A lot has changed since 1989, and even more has changed since 1968 when Canfor acquired Prince George Pulp and Paper.
Some things, however, will never change. We will always rely on our skilled, innovative employees to meet our high standards for production and customer service, and to develop next-generation products. We continue to depend on high-quality fibre from BC’s interior forests to make premium products that are in demand around the world.
As this report shows, we will always maintain the highest environmental performance so customers can be assured they are buying products from legal and sustainable sources.
Brett Robinson
President, Canfor Pulp