Iggesund Gives Back to Nature by Replanting

Published: September 24, 2015

HELSINKI, FINLAND | Iggesund Paperboard began handing out gift cards this past spring. The cards have a symbolic rather than monetary value: The company will plant ten trees in honor of each person who chooses to activate his or her card. A forest area ready for replanting in Nianfors in the Swedish province of Hälsingland has been reserved and has space for enough tree seedlings for up to 3,000 customers.

“We want to make it clear to all our customers that the price of Invercote or Incada includes replanting, which will give us at least as much new forest as the amount we harvested,” says CEO Annica Bresky. “We’d like people to know that our paperboard material is one of only a few packaging materials that actually gives something back to nature.”

Iggesund is part of the Holmen Group, which is on the United Nations list of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies. The Group produces more than 30 million tree seedlings annually as a key part of its replanting strategy. Swedish law states that anyone who harvests forests is also responsible for replanting them. In practice this means that at least three seedlings must be planted for each tree that is felled.

“Of course we would still have planted these new trees to meet our obligations under the law and as part of good forest husbandry,” Bresky says. “But many of our customers around the world are not aware of the responsibility for replanting that is part of our business offering. We want anyone who buys Invercote or Incada to know that their purchase includes a replanting program which ensures that the forest resources are intact or even increasing.”

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