Perlen Papier is a pure recycling company that processes recovered paper into new newsprint and magazine paper. It is also Switzerland’s biggest waste paper recycler. Recovered paper can be collected, processed and reworked into new publication paper up to seven times. After this, the remaining fibres are too short and need to be replaced. The fresh fibres used for this purpose derive from waste wood from sawmill operations and forest management activities, which is converted into pulp at the Perlen site. Perlen Papier thus makes a major contribution to optimally managing the sustainable resource of wood, to ensuring shorter transport journeys and, as a result, to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Also located at the Perlen site is the Renergia waste incineration facility, in which Perlen Papier holds a 10% equity stake. The Renergia facility is a major power plant which provides both energy for the local area and carbon dioxide-free steam for use in Perlen Papier’s paper production. The rest of the company’s steam requirements are met by its own biomass plant. Some of the electricity used in Perlen Papier’s paper production is also derived from renewable energies, almost half thereof in the form of hydro power from two company-owned hydro power plants.

According to the ‘Ten Toes’ model of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), the carbon dioxide emissions generated by Perlen Papier in the manufacture of its paper products are about a quarter of the corresponding volumes of CO₂ emissions generated by its competitors.

Perlen Papier continues to work consistently towards its objective of achieving net-zero carbon emissions and increasing the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy sources.