“As part of UPM The Biofore Company, we are committed to building a sustainable, innovation-driven future and want to share our expertise and assets with the communities we operate in. UPM Raflatac is part of the packaging value chain and labels can play a key role in enabling circular economy in this value chain. Given the resource needs today, promoting sustainable forestry supports our journey beyond fossils,” said Vera Bartsch of UPM Raflatac.

The amount of waste in Poland is increasing every year. Waste that is not recycled and reused has several negative consequences such as reduction of habitats due to land filling, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, to name a few. The goal of the waste management and circular economy initiative is to reduce the amount of packaging waste going to the environment. The project is based on three pillars: legislative changes, cooperation with businesses to make the transition towards a circular economy and motivating and educating Polish consumers to drive the change.

“Succeeding in making the transition towards a circular economy is only possible through the cooperation of various stakeholders. Cooperating with UPM Raflatac as a key stakeholder in the packaging value chain will create an opportunity to strive for bigger impact and achieve more in terms of circular economy development in Poland,” said Ewa Chodkiewicz, WWF Poland.

The second initiative focuses on sustainable forestry practices. The aim of this collaboration initiative is to set up a knowledge base in collaboration with key stakeholders, create guidelines on biodiversity conservation and carbon storage friendly afforestation and mapping and assessment of restoration potential of degraded ecosystems with an emphasis on wetlands.

UPM Raflatac operates two factories in Biskupice Podgórne and Nowa Wieś Wrocławska, Poland employing 635 employees. The collaboration between UPM Raflatac and WWF Poland started in 2012 with a project called "Rivers for life" which focused on protecting rivers' biodiversity in Poland. The partnership continued with the development of the program “Guardians of Rivers”.