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A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
The Sappi mill in Cloquet was recognized globally last month with a SEAL Environmental Initiative Award for work it's done over the last 20 years to reduce and reuse waste that formerly went into a landfill, but now powers the mill and helps improve soil conditions for farmers who participate in a low-cost program.
Byproducts from the Sappi mill wait to be reused. The lighter-colored materials are lime mud on the right, boiler ash on the left. The dark pile is degritter material - this is the dirt/bark that gets washed off of the logs.
Being green has its benefits. Just ask the folks at Sappi.
What started almost 20 years ago as an effort to prolong the life of the on-site landfill at the Cloquet paper mill has turned into an environmental success story that goes beyond Minnesota, even beyond North America.
Sappi North America - and particularly the Cloquet mill - was one of 41 companies recognized globally last month with a SEAL Environmental Initiative Award.
It all started with the landfill. With the Cloquet mill adding about 120,000 tons of waste each year in the early 2000s, its landfill was predicted to fill up by 2012.
Today, the Sappi mill is adding only about 15,000-16,000 tons of waste per year to its landfill, which is now predicted to last at least another 25 years.
The Land Application program gets the lion's share of credit for that success. Instead of putting lime mud and boiler ash into the landfill, the company worked with the Carlton County Extension Service and other agencies starting in 2004 to get the byproducts to farmers, who use the ash and mud to improve soils at a much lower cost than commercial fertilizer.
Robert Schilling, the environmental manager at the Cloquet mill, said the two byproducts have different benefits, but both help increase crop yield. Lime mud helps adjust soil acidity levels, which is generally low in this part of the state, he said. Boiler ash also helps adjust the acidity levels and contains micronutrients. It also has a more sustained release over time.
Farmers like a combination of both, he said, adding that they now see as many as 300 farmers participating in the program. Some are seeing a 30 percent increase in crop yield.
"I've been at the mill 15 years, this landfill and success is my favorite thing to talk about," said Schilling, who is also a member of the North American Sustainability Council. "I'm always excited to tell people this story - the success for us, the farmers, everyone involved."
He compared the Land Application program to watching his grandmother dump ash from her fireplace into her garden when he was a boy.
"Our boilers are like big fireplaces," he said. "We're burning virtually all wood, and the ashes at the bottom of our boiler are like the ashes at the bottom of my grandma's fireplace. And it's a really important nutrient for agriculture."
Sappi North America's Cloquet mill is the only participant in the Land Application program. Company leadership continues to develop similar programs to reduce waste effectively across other mills in the effort to reach the goal of zero-waste to landfill.
The local Sappi mill has also eliminated waste that used to go from its wastewater treatment plant into the landfill.
Schilling said the wastewater sludge, made of mostly wood fiber, is now being burned (along with bark they strip from the wood) in two biomass burners. Additionally, knots in the wood fiber that used to be thrown out are now ground up and burned to power the mill.
"We make 90 percent of our steam energy from renewables," Schilling said. Previously the power came from natural gas and oil and a little coal.
The mill also has a subgrade fill program, that again uses byproducts from the process of creating pulp, paper and chemical cellulose. In this case, it's bottom ash, which farmers don't want in their soil because of its gravel-like consistency, and "green liquor dregs," pieces of carbonate that are screened out during the pumping process. Mixed together, the two make a remarkably stable fill, which the company has provided to a limited number of farmers to fill in low spots to make them tillable.
Again, it's waste that is used instead of going into the landfill.
"Our investment in sustainable production and waste is a continued priority for the leadership team at Sappi and this award is a proud moment for all the employees and community members involved," said Tom Radovich, managing director at the mill. Radovich also praised the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for its ag-lime program and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which works with the boiler ash program.
Radovich said the Cloquet mill hopes to continue working with the agencies to develop "more opportunities for waste repurposing and other sustainable benefits."
Sappi joined brands such as adidas, Procter & Gamble's Tide and Disneyland Resort, along with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and more in receiving the SEAL Environmental Initiative Award Feb. 12.
SEAL Awards founder Matt Harney said the SEAL mission is to "rigorously assess and then celebrate extraordinary sustainability leadership."
Which leads to Schilling's second-favorite story to tell: how the Cloquet mill has the lowest carbon footprint of any integrated pulp and paper mill in North America.
"There might be a manufacturer in Scandinavia that might be lower than here, but we are world-class in terms of carbon footprint," he said. "And that's not anything new. We've been there for a long time."
