Climate change requires everyone to use natural resources more efficiently, and more and more consumers demand sustainable products. The numbers relating to increased eco-awareness are quite substantial: over a third of consumers are prepared to pay up to 25 percent more for a more sustainable option and 85 percent of people indicate having shifted their purchase behaviour towards more sustainable options. Sustainability is becoming an important purchase criterion and 60 percent of consumers already consider it as such.

Stora Enso's pulp customers are getting more and more questions about their products' sustainability and if these products are compostable. As responsibility lies at the heart of Stora Enso, we initiated a project to certify all our paper pulp grades as compostable.

This means that Stora Enso's paper pulp grades must fulfill specific compostability criteria according to EN 13432 standard; these are measured by an independent external party. To be considered compostable, a product has to degrade into water, carbon dioxide and compost soil within a set period of time, and it should not harm the quality of the compost. The tests that our paper pulps were required to pass measured their material characteristics, and bleached pulps were also tested for ecotoxicity. This means that the pulp should not harm the flora that grows in the compost soil.

The results showed that our pulps do not contain harmful compounds, such as heavy metals, nor do they have a negative effect on the resulting compost. Stora Enso's paper pulps help our customers reach their sustainability targets, as they can now apply for certification of their products as industrially or home compostable. A logo of the certification on the product helps consumers make more eco-friendly choices.