Fresh fibres as the main raw material for sustainable tissues

Metsä Tissue uses fresh fibre originating from sustainably managed Northern forests as its main raw material. In addition, we produces also recycled fibre based tissues. At the moment, we use fresh fibres in over 60 percent of our tissue paper production. Most of the fresh fibre raw material comes from within Metsä Group’s value chain, from Metsä Fibre in the form of pulp and originally from Metsä Forest in the form of wood raw material. This ensures good availability of the first-class sustainable and pure raw material from close-by and makes Metsä Tissue a unique operator in the European tissue paper market. The origin of the wood we use is fully traceable, and it comes from sustainably managed and certified or controlled forests

Future hygiene solutions

The use of fresh fibres with modern technology is the best hygiene solution for the future. There are clear benefits in making hygiene tissues from fresh fibres: paper production from fresh fibres requires less water & energy and generates less waste than recycled paper production. Pure fresh fibres are also a great fit for hygiene products as they secure optimal product safety. In 2021, Metsä Tissue had the carbon footprints of its own production sites calculated by external consultant Afry, and the results showed that fresh fibre rolls in Metsä Tissue’s mills had approximately 20% lower carbon footprint than recycled paper rolls.

Fresh fiber use as tissue raw material is part of sustainable bioeconomy. Every part of the tree is always used to most value-adding purpose: the biggest part of a full grown tree (60%) is used as logs, ending up in wood products, in for example construction or furniture end uses. Some 25% of the tree is used as pulpwood, which goes into manufacturing of pulp and other bioproducts. 15% of the tree is branches and top that can be used to produce renewable bioenergy. This way tissue production is part of the sustainable bioeconomy and efficient use of the renewable wood raw material.

Biodiversity in focus

In the Nordic forests, both the forest owners and the industry pay special attention to preserving biodiversity. This is done for instance by leaving retention trees and biodiversity stumps and by preserving standing and fallen decayed trees in the forests to provide living spaces for many different species, including fungi, insects and birds. Biodiversity is also protected by leaving buffer zones are left along waterways to prevent nutrient runoff into them. In addition, the most valuable forest sites are left as they are for conservation.

When using renewable and sustainable fresh fibres for producing tissues, we can act sustainably across the whole value chain, starting all the way from the forests and resulting in high-quality, pure and safe end products.

Forest certification systems PEFC and FSC®

Metsä Tissue promotes the use of forest certification systems, such as PEFC and FSC® that are based on independent third-party verification of sustainable forest management practices. The company’s fresh fibre suppliers are chain-of-custody certified. In 2022 90 per cent of our fibres were either PEFC and FSC® certified, and also the rest came from controlled sources, which means that all our fresh fibers can be traced to legally managed forests which does not cause deforestation). The fresh wood fibres used are fully traceable to sustainable sources.

(FSC-C004147, PEFC/02-31-77)