The European kraft paper and paper sack industry has reduced carbon footprint per a ton of production, by 17% from 2007 and 2012, saving emissions equivalent to 17,300 car journeys around the world.
This was revealed in a study recently undertaken by Swedish research institute Innventia, which has observed that the carbon intensity went down from 570kg to 471kg of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), including greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or methane.
During the period, around 95,000t CO2e were annually saved, which is said to equal 693 million passenger car kilometers taking 137g/km CO2 emission as the parameter laid down by registration norms.
Kraft paper output leads to emissions accounting for 60% of total carbon footprint for each individual paper sack.
From the cradle to the factory gate, CO2 emissions a paper sack has also reduced from 118g CO2e to 99 g CO2e, an improvement of 16%. This has been attributed to reduced size of individual pack due to the enhanced paper quality.
However, if rising biomass in European forests is taken into consideration, the carbon footprint would have been assessed at negative -282 g CO2e per sack, the study said.