Bleaching method

Level: Core. Also available as Advanced and Spearhead

When bleaching chemical pulp, chlorine compounds (AOX) may be formed and released in the production facility's wastewater. The criteria include type of bleaching method as well as chlorine compound value.

Details

Type:: Technical specification
ID:: 11403
Group:: Tissue paper
Swedish:: Blekmetod

Compare levels

Criterion text

Pulp included in printing and copying paper shall be bleached without chlorine, i.e. by the ECF or TCF methods.

The AOX emissions from the production of each individual pulp shall not exceed 0.17 kg/ADt¹.

¹ADt = air dry tonne of pulp expressed as 90 % dryness

Verification

The supplier shall, upon request, be able to present any of for example the following:

Valid license for any of for example the following labels
- EU Ecolabel for tissue paper and tissue products ((EU) 2019/70)
- Nordic Swan Ecolabel for tissue paper, version 6 (note that version 5 cannot verify the requirement)
The company’s self-declaration including one of the following alternatives:
- certificate that TCF pulp was used
- calculation in accordance with EU Ecolabel's criterion 1b for tissue paper and tissue products ((EU) 2019/70) which shows that the requirement is met
The company’s self-declaration including technical documentation of compliance verified by an accredited verification body, accredited for the task in accordance with ISO/IEC 17029 or equivalent standard.

Proposed follow-up

Labelling

Check that there is a valid license for the product in question. This can be checked on each website: EU Ecolabel, Nordic Swan Ecolabel.

Self-declaration

If the requirement has been verified with a self-declaration and a certificate that TCF pulp was used, check if the certificate is still valid

If the requirement has been verified with a self-declaration and calculation, request a current calculation from the supplier.

If the requirement has been verified with a self-declaration including technical documentation of compliance verified by an accredited verification body, request the company's self-declaration including technical documentation of compliance that has been verified by an accredited verification body, accredited for the task in accordance with ISO/IEC 17029.

Information about the criterion

There are currently no accredited verification bodies according to ISO / IEC 17029 (Conformity assessment - General principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies), as it is a relatively new standard. However, this may change, especially if the demand for verifying compliance in this way increases. This possibility is therefore included in the list of possible verifications.

More information about the standard is available at www.swedac.se.

Environmental goals

A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos
A Non-Toxic Environment

Agenda 2030

Good health and well-being
Clean water and sanitation
Responsible consumption and production
Life below water
Life on land

Motive

The amount of chlorine compounds are measured and expressed as AOX (Adsorbable Organic Halogens). Many chlorine compounds are difficult to degrade, are fat-soluble and stored in the fatty tissues of organisms and passed upward in the food chain. As such, they are associated with serious health and environmental effects.

Modern bleaching methods for paper pulp are the TCF (Totally Chlorine Free) and ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) methods. TCF means that the pulp is bleached completely without chlorine, therefore this bleaching method does not give AOX emissions. ECF means that the pulp is bleached with chlorine dioxide. This bleaching method produces AOX emissions, but significantly lower emissions than chlorine gas bleaching.

Chlorine is no longer used for pulp bleaching within the EU. However, since chlorine bleaching may be used in other places in the world, it is important to set this requirement.

Emissions of AOX can be stated either as emissions from each individual pulp used for production of printing and copying paper or as a weighted average of the total pulp emissions used for production of printing and copying paper. In this criterion, requirements are set for emissions from each individual mass.

Versions history

The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.

Current ID: 11403
Version date: 2019-10-30
Review date: 2021-07-07

2019-10-30, KravID 11403: Core criterion sharpened in accordance with EU Ecolabel.

2011-09-15, Krav ID 10143: Original version