In January, the municipality of São Paulo enacted a law that prohibits the supply of disposable plastic products in commercial establishments, which comes into force as of January 1, 2021. With it, the distribution of cups, plates, cutlery, beverage stirrers and sticks for single use balloons made with plastic, with the possibility of a fine and even closing the establishment.

Practices like this also reached the corporate universe. Valmet, a Finnish company leader in the development and supply of technologies, automation and services for the cellulose, paper and energy sectors, abolished, in 2019, the use of cups and plastic items in the Araucária (PR) and Sorocaba ( SP), to replace biodegradable crockery and paper cups. The estimate was of more than 35 thousand glasses used per month in the factory that has about 500 employees in both locations.

Valmet's Strategy, Quality and Marketing Manager for South America, Pedro Ferraz Paciornik, explains that the replacement of plastic items is part of a sustainability and habit change movement that will be followed by the company's other locations in South America. South. “Although it seems like a simple initiative, changing people's behavioral changes is not always so easy. It is necessary to sensitize them so that they leave their comfort zone and are aware that the transformation depends a lot on their own attitude ”, he comments.

Valmet's sustainability agenda focuses on five main areas: sustainable supply chain; health, safety and environment; people and performance; sustainable solutions and corporate citizenship. The actions made the company integrate, for the sixth consecutive year, in 2019, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI 2019-2020) in the World and Europe rankings.

The DJSI is a global indicator that points out the leaders in sustainability in several sectors. The index, which assesses the economic, environmental and social performance of companies, serves as a reference for analyzing shareholders committed to ethical investment.

In January of this year, Valmet was recognized for its actions and strategies to mitigate climate change, receiving an “A” classification in the CDP's climate program ranking, for the second consecutive year. The assessment was based on its program to reduce CO2 emissions in its own operations, with a focus on more sustainable transport, improvements in energy efficiency and process optimization. The CDP - Carbon Disclosure Project - is a global disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts, and for investors or buyers to access environmental information for use in financial decisions.

Initiative helps preserve the oceans 

A study published by the Marine Pollution Bulletin points out that plastic pollution of the oceans costs society about US $ 2.5 trillion annually, equivalent to R $ 9.5 trillion. The survey estimates that 8 million tons of waste are dumped irregularly into the seas around the world each year.

Pollution of the seas affects different sectors of the economy, affecting the tourism, transport and fishing industries, in addition to accelerating and intensifying the effects of climate change and causing damage to the well-being of the population and to human health.