P&G Announces Progress Toward Long-Term Vision in Annual Sustainability Report

Delivers absolute reductions in all operations footprints and improves the lives of over 400 million children worldwide

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2012-- Today the Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) released its 14thannual Sustainability Report, demonstrating its commitment to making everyday life better for people around the world through an integrated approach to environmental and social responsibility. The report includes the Company’s sustainability results from the past Fiscal Year, announcing absolute reductions in its energy, waste, water and CO2manufacturing footprints over the past five years.

“P&G's commitment to environmental and social sustainability is unwavering,” said P&G Chairman, President and CEO Bob McDonald. “From our founding, we have invested in the communities where we sell our products, and we have embraced the responsibility of ethical and sustainable operations. To grow and thrive for another 175 years requires us to accelerate our sustainable innovation and resource efficiency so that we have less environmental impact and, at the same time, continue to invest in our communities to help create the conditions for future growth.”

The report published today shares specific progress in P&G’s sustainability focus areas of Products, Operations, and Social Responsibility. Highlights from this year’s report include:

Practical Polysaccharides (Part 4) Cellulose fibres to store functional agents

Part 4 of the paper by Jacek K. Dutkiewicz of Buckeye Technologies Inc given at this years Insight Conference organised by MTS in Norfolk Virginia. (Click here for Part 1)
The coarseness and length of natural wood or cotton-linter cellulosic fibers may vary depending on the origin, geography and age of the plant.  There are tools known by cellulose pulp experts to control or modify fiber geometry but only to a limited extent since the basic parameters have been already defined by Mother Nature.   Cellulosic fiber webs possess excellent absorbent properties, in large part because of their high surface energy.  Water-based liquids, depending on their liquid rate constant W [4], can move more quickly within the pores of cellulose fiber networks than in other kinds of porous materials.  The liquid rate constant is defined here as a ratio of surface tension to viscosity of a given liquid.   The units of W are the same as the physical units of velocity.   This parameter can be used in mathematical descriptions of the rate of fluid flow for instance in the Laplace and Lucas-Washburn equations (Fig.6).

Cellulosic fibers have unique properties such as surface polarity and reactive

Practical Polysaccharides (Part 3) Fibre Bonds and Geometry

Part 3 of the paper by Jacek K. Dutkiewicz of Buckeye Technologies Inc given at this years Insight Conference organised by MTS in Norfolk Virginia. (Click here for Part 1)

Physical and chemical properties of the fibers have obvious impact on the characteristics of the nonwoven products and their use performance.  It is always worth it to be able to predict and quantify these relationships when selecting appropriate fiber raw materials and designing new products.  There is much useful science behind this, which has been generated by specialists focused on specific areas of web-forming technologies.  Sometimes however, it is helpful to tap into the existing knowledge in other areas.  For example, some principles of fiber physics which are well known and commonly used in traditional paper-making may be of value to nonwovens structures produced via different forming techniques.  For instance, one of basic equations in paper science and technology is Page formula (Fig. 4) describing the effect of individual fiber and fiber-to-fiber bond characteristics on the mechanical properties of paper.   This equation is probably not well known among the nonwoven experts but may prove useful for example in the case of latex-bonded airlaids.

P&G Releases New Fiber Sourcing Goals for Absorbent Hygiene Products

Ongoing collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) helps enable new level of commitment to forest certification

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 2012-- The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) today announced new fiber sourcing goals for the pulp it purchases for its tissue-towel, baby care, and feminine hygiene brands. These new goals help deliver progress toward P&G’s long-term environmental sustainability vision, which includes having all products and packaging made from 100% sustainably sourced renewable or recycled materials. The new fiber sourcing goals, developed in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), will be published in P&G’s 2012 Sustainability Report issued on November 12^th. The goals commit that by 2015:

• All of the pulp used in P&G’s tissue-towel, baby care, and feminine hygiene products will be third-party certified under one of the following five certification programs used in different parts of the world to promote responsible forestry: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which P&G will continue to preference; Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Systems (PEFC); Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI); Brazilian National Forestry Certification Scheme (CERFLOR); Canada’s National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (CSA-SFM).
• At least 40% of the pulp used in P&G’s tissue-towel products will be Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Practical Polysaccharides - Part 2 - Cellulose

Part 2 of the paper by Jacek K. Dutkiewicz of Buckeye Technologies Inc given at this years Insight Conference organised by MTS in Norfolk Virginia. (Click here for  Part 1)

Cellulose is the main component of biomass whose total annual production is estimated at more than 100 billion metric tons based on its carbon content [2].  Most of this carbon is stored in woodlands and is produced by the plants through photosynthesis using atmospheric carbon dioxide. The global balance of so-called biomass carbon cycle is not certain and the plants producing cellulose are our allies in controlling the greenhouse gas effect.  According to the results available from the U.S. Forest Service [3] within the United States the growth of woodlands measured as the volume of trees historically has had a positive trend. It is suggested that this trend should have a favorable impact on the biomass carbon balance in North America (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2. Biomass carbon balance.

7TH EUROPEAN BIOPLASTICS CONFERENCE DEMONSTRATES FUTURE POTENTIAL OF THE INDUSTRY

Berlin, 7 November 2012. The significance of bioplastics as a central component of the European bioeconomy strategy is undisputed. This was the core message of the plenary talks by Alfredo Aguilar Romanillos, European Commission, Clemens Neumann, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Germany, and John Williams, NNFCC, during the 7th European Bioplastics Conference on 6 and 7 November in Berlin. More than 400 participants caught up on the latest developments and progress in the bioplastics industry.

Numerous questions connected to the growth of the bioplastics industry were discussed during the 7th European Bioplastics Conference – such as: How is the growing supply of bioplastics affecting public awareness? Which market segments will grow in particular and what impacts will this growth have? What are the potential side-effects of adding bioplastics to existing recycling streams? In particular the latter was a hot topic at the conference. “Give us a sufficient amount of any plastic – be it PLA or any other bioplastic – and we can sort it and recycle it”. This was the main message of the recycling industry to the bioplastics industry during a podium discussion moderated by Thomas Probst of the Federal Association of Secondary Raw Materials and Disposal.

The „7th Annual Global Bioplastics Award“ ceremony by bioplastics MAGAZINE was another highlight of this year’s conference. 2012, saw two winners take the award. Both companies come from the automotive industry and achieved

Practical Polysaccharides: Some Less Known Stories of Cellulose, Starch and Chitin

This paper by Jacek K. Dutkiewicz of Buckeye Technologies Inc was given at this years Insight Conference organised by MTS in Norfolk Virginia.  We thought it was good enough to appear here in several instalments so here's the first part. (The nonwovens from thermoplastic starch look particularly interesting.)

Polysaccharides are everywhere and all around us. They are in plants, animals, LCD screens, tires, medicines, cosmetics, paints, nonwovens, and binders. We use them as food, tools, furniture, paper, home, cloth … and so on and on.

Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer followed by chitin. Starch belongs to the group of most common polycarbohydrates and its importance is mainly due to the fact that it is digestible by humans and stores energy. 

Combined together, polysaccharides represent the largest group of polymers harvested and produced in the world [1]. It is because they are renewable and extremely useful in countless areas of applications whose number is steadily growing. Cellulose, chitin and starch are liked by scientists and researchers due to their chemical and physical properties and by product developers due to their availability and affordability depending on the grade and on specific target applications. Starch is the cheapest of all three, cellulose is much more expensive and chitin, especially its preferred derivative chitosan, in order of magnitude is more costly than starch.

What can these natural polymers offer as raw materials? Fig. 1 illustrates

Lenzing Group: Expansion to 320,000 tonnes viscose fibre capacity at SPV completed.

SPV President Director Wolfram Kalt and his employees with the first viscose fiber bale of the fifth production line

South Pacific Viscose (SPV) is now the world’s largest viscose fiber plant.

In late October, trial operations of the fifth production line started successfully at Lenzing’s Indonesian subsidiary PT. South Pacific Viscose. With an additional nominal capacity of 80,000 tons of viscose fibers p.a., the annual total capacity of SPV will increase to 320,000 tons once Line 5 has been launched. SPV will thus exceed the capacity of the parent plant in Lenzing/Upper Austria (250,000 tons p.a.) for the first time and become the world’s largest viscose fiber plant.

“Asia is the most important market for the Lenzing Group. It’s where we generate more than half of our fiber revenues. Therefore it is only logical that our largest plant is located in Indonesia”, Peter Untersperger, Chief Executive Officer of Lenzing, explains the general thrust of the expansion. “More than half of our fiber production capacity is now located in Asia.”

Indonesia has a significant textile industry, which represents one of the largest industrial sectors of the Southeast Asian island state. SPV has been an important supplier and reliable partner of the local industry for nearly 30 years. Moreover, customers are supplied with high-quality fibers for textile and nonwovens use from the Purwakarta plant not only in the Asian region, but in nearly all continents as part of the global market presence of the Lenzing Group.

For more information please contact:

Angelika Guldt
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +43 (0) 7672 701-2713
E-mail: a.guldt@lenzing.com

Suominen Nonwovens closes Finnish PP fibre plant..

Suominen Corporation has decided to stop the production of polypropylene staple fibres at the Nakkila facility of Suominen Nonwovens Ltd. This is part of the company’s broader performance improvement program aimed at creating cost savings representing about two per cent of net sales.  For Suominen Corporation’s Nonwovens business area it is no longer strategically relevant to have in-house fibre manufacturing, therefore it has been decided to stop this activity.  Suominen Corporation has negotiated a long term supply agreement for the raw material, in order to replace the in-house production.

The fibre lines at the Nakkila facility of Suominen Nonwovens Ltd are to be closed by the end of 2012. This has no effect to the earlier announced lay-offs in Suominen Nonwovens. 

The closure of the production will lead to a write down of about 3 million euros in Suominen Nonwovens Ltd 2012 results. Write down has no cash flow effect.

Helsinki, 2 November 2012

Suominen Corporation

Nina Kopola
President and CEO

For additional information, please contact 
Mrs. Nina Kopola, tel. +358 (0) 214 300

P&G Celebrates Seven Top C+D Partners for Accelerating Innovation, Increasing Productivity

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2012-- They helped get products to market in half the time. Drove global innovation breakthroughs. Helped build connections, collaborations and product equity. They are P&G’s (NYSE:PG) top Connect+Develop open innovation partners. And this week, as part of its Annual C+D Partnership Celebration, P&G is recognizing seven, among its hundreds of partners, for their innovation and collaboration that have driven business results. “Our Connect+Develop partnerships are helping us deliver game-changing innovations and strengthen our productivity culture,” said P&G Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald. “We celebrate their work, and thank them for their partnership.” The collection of winners are widely diverse: from small firms to global operations to academia. Some are located near P&G’s global headquarters in Cincinnati, others are scattered around the world. “Their collaboration with our teams has been seamless and wholly focused on helping deliver a superior product for consumers,” said Laura Becker, General Manager P&G Global Business Development. This year’s winners are: