Sylvamo Visit

Hello everyone! It is good to be back visiting members and their companies.

Have you ever used copy paper, printing paper, magazine stock or specialty paper such as ACCENT ® OPAQUE, HAMMERMILL®, SPRINGHILL®, or WILLIAMSBURG to name a few brands? Then you do know Sylvamo.

I have another question for you. How many Paper360° Magazine readers have noticed the fresh look and feel of our revised magazine? Several of you, including our staff, have commented on how fresh the magazine looks and feels these days.
We have heard so many positive comments that I had to put my detective hat on and figure out how this metamorphosis occurred.

It would not have been possible if Sylvamo had not stepped up with a donation to TAPPI of their high-quality uncoated freesheet paper. It turns out that Neki Catron, Sylvamo’s Global Community Engagement Manager, and our own Jan Bottiglieri, Editorial Director of Paper360° Magazine, put their heads together and made this happen.

Inquiring minds wanted more information, so we set up a Teams meeting in May with a group at Sylvamo. That led to a face-to-face meeting at their headquarters in my hometown, Memphis, TN.

TAPPI COO Lawton Roberts and I were welcomed with lunch at Amerigo, not far from their office. Back at Sylvamo World Headquarters, we had the pleasure of meeting with some industry friends that we have known for years and some new ones. These included Pat Wilczynski-Senior Vice President, Operational Excellence; Matt Barron, Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative & Legal Officer; James McDonald, Chief Sustainability Officer; Neki Catron, Global Community Engagement Manager; Nathan Elser, Global Sustainability Manager; Anna Stavrum, ESG Data & Reporting Analyst; Jace Athow-Innovation & Commercial Strategies Consultant; and AJ Layo, Sales Manager.

One thing all of them have in common is a strong passion for Sylvamo and the customers they serve. They are also passionate about the power of paper and print and call themselves “The World’s Paper Company.” TAPPI shares those same passions, which makes this the perfect partnership. That was the motivation for Sylvamo’s generous paper donation in support of TAPPI’s Paper360° Magazine, the paper and packaging industry’s magazine.

At Sylvamo, we heard the word “global” mentioned many times. In addition to Memphis, Sylvamo has seven paper mills across Europe, Latin America, and North America, a European Headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium and a Global Business Service in Krakow, Poland. They own nearly 250,000 acres of forestland in Brazil located near their mills where they grow eucalyptus trees. Sylvamo has 6,500 global employees.
They supply the world with paper to “Educate, Communicate and Entertain.”

Did you know that “Sylvamo” means Love of Forest? 
They certainly practice what they preach. They could not exist without sustainable land management. Their entire business depends on the sustainability of forests. A sustainably managed forest is one that maintains and enhances economic, social, and environmental values for the benefit of present and future generations. Responsibly managed forests provide improved air and water quality, wildlife habitats, and recreational opportunities, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Responsible forestry is part of the circular economy; healthy working forests enable us to produce renewable and recyclable paper that people need for education and communication while contributing to the health of our entire ecosystem.
Sylvamo is committed to sourcing 100% of its fiber from sustainably managed forests while safeguarding forest biodiversity and watersheds. Sylvamo is one of the world's largest producers of fiber-based, renewable paper, and they play an active role in preventing deforestation and forest degradation, promoting and increasing the use of responsibly managed forests and supporting markets for certified products.

This is done by adhering to the company’s Global Fiber Procurement Policy, which clearly states their unwillingness to accept wood that: comes from an unknown region or origin; has been illegally harvested or acquired; threatens high conservation value forests; comes from sources that are known to be involved in the violation of human rights, including conflict timber, or where indigenous peoples and local communities have not had the opportunity to give or withhold their free, prior and informed consent; or comes from deforestation or conversion.
Sylvamo means business!

For more information about Sylvamo go to Sylvamo.com and for information about TAPPI, go to TAPPI.org.

Remember, there are two types of people in this industry: TAPPI members and those who should be!

Until next time……….. Larry