News Environment & Sustainability Paper Pulp Tissue
J.D. Irving releases 2019 sustainability report

J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI) has released its 2019 sustainability report for its forestry and forest products operations.

The company’s sustainability framework focuses on five areas: environment, opportunities for people, communities, strong partnerships for business success and safe and efficient operations.

In the forest products operations segment, JDI reports 60 per cent green energy use from renewable fuels like biomass, which is up by seven per cent from five years ago.

The company also saw a 22 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the past 5 years, and a 12 per cent reduction in water usage over the past five years per tonne of tissue product made.

The report states a 17 per cent increase in waste that is diverted from landfill for beneficial use over the past five years.

Also of note: a five per cent overall improvement in safety performance (a reduction of recordable incident rates) over the past five years, and the percentage of women in the workforce was 13.6 in 2019 over 11.9 in 2017.

The company saw an additional 665 new employees added in 2019 to the forestry and forest products operation – a 53 per cent increase over 2015. New hires are the result of business growth, retirements and normal workforce turnover. A total of 4,961 employees work directly in the forestry and forest products operations in Canada and the U.S.

To read the full report, click here.