Outstanding achievement in local Belgian forest
Brussels, 2 March 2011 - The Brussels based team at Sappi Fine Paper Europe has once again joined forces with the Agency for Forest and Nature (ANB); this time creating a green corridor that will help to counter commuter pollution.
Last year the forty-strong team planted 1,250 trees which offset the office’s carbon footprint for one year
On 25 February, the warm-hearted, green-fingered office workers planted enough trees in one team-building session to offset their yearly carbon footprint nearly twice over.
Seventy staff members from across many different departments gave up their time to join in with the planting; which was organised in collaboration with the ANB, close to the Sappi Brussels office.
Altogether the Sappi team planted an outstanding 2,200 trees and smaller vegetation in the Sonien Forest; a fantastic achievement in just two hours.
In a forest clearing, working with the ANB, they created a vegetation corridor of mayflower, blackthorn, alder buckthorn, rowan tree and red cornel. Behind this an area was planted up with durmast hornbeam and a mixed border of other plants.
As the new plants mature they will help to reduce the amount of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere from heavy commuter traffic nearby. The trees and improved habitat provided by their foliage and the smaller vegetation will also attract animals and birds to the area; enhancing its biodiversity.
Explaining Sappi’s focus on sustainability and collaborative work Eric Van den Bruel, Marketing & Product Development Director for Sappi Fine Paper Europe said, “This is about partnership and how joining forces can create fantastic results.
“As one of the biggest paper providers on the planet, Sappi grows trees everyday around the world. Sometimes the world is just next door. Sappi people are very happy to have contributed to a local initiative with long lasting effects.”
Photographs:
- Sappi teamwork 1-5: Sappi teamwork in action
ENDS
About Sappi
Sappi Fine Paper Europe is the leading European producer of coated fine paper used in premium magazines, catalogues, books and high-end print advertising. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Sappi Fine Paper Europe is recognised for innovation and quality. Its brands include Galerie, Royal, Magno, Tempo, Quatro, Era, Furioso, as well as Cento and Tauro for the uncoated graphic papers. Top and Jaz are the paper brands for digital printing. Algro, Leine and Parade are the brands for speciality labelling and packaging papers and boards. Sappi papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification and EMAS registration for all our mills in the EU. SFPE’s mills hold chain-of-custody certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes.
Sappi Fine Paper Europe is a division of Sappi Limited (NYSE, JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with over 17,000 employees and manufacturing operations on four continents in 9 countries, sales offices in 50 countries, and customers in over 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at www.sappi.com.
