Resources
Timeline
- Environmental
Environmental Dimension
- Using resources wisely
- Complying with laws
- Minimizing the impact of our facilities by operating in a safe, responsible and efficient manner
- Reducing the adverse impact of our products in use
- Economic
Economic Dimension
- Maintaining profitability
- Managing the cost to customers and consumers to use our products
- Making products that are preferred in the marketplace
- Positively impacting our communities through local purchases of goods and services, taxes and other community support
Georgia-Pacific has a long history of practicing sustainability. Our activities are categorized using the three dimensions of sustainability – social, environmental and economic performance. Here are examples of our key activities and accomplishments over time. Some activities represent more than one dimension of sustainability.
1930
1930s Fort Howard Paper Company (now owned by Georgia-Pacific) starts using recovered paper to make tissue products at its Green Bay, Wis., mill.
1941
1941-1945 Georgia-Pacific was the largest supplier of lumber to the U.S. armed forces and was awarded the Army-Navy "E" for outstanding service in the war effort.
1958
The Georgia-Pacific Foundation is created to serve as the company's community investment arm.
1963
GP begins operating the nation’s first Southern pine plywood plant at Fordyce, Ark. In developing commercially viable plywood from Southern pine trees, the company makes use of an underutilized resource.
1968
Georgia-Pacific's sales exceed $1 billion for the first time.
1969
The company donates California redwood groves, valued at more than $6 million, to the public.
1970
Harmon Associates (now a part of Georgia-Pacific) is founded as a regional trader of recovered paper for use in containerboard and gypsum paperboard.
1980
GP begins making oriented strand board (OSB), a new type of structural panel. OSB helps make more efficient use of the forest resource by using smaller trees or trees and wood fiber that cannot be made into other wood products.
1981
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals enters the crude tall oil fractionation business, adding value to by-products from GP paper mills.
1989
Georgia-Pacific’s sales exceed $10 billion for the first time.
1990
Nouvelle®, a 100 percent recycled bath tissue (now produced by Georgia-Pacific), is introduced in the United Kingdom.
1992
Georgia-Pacific begins manufacturing synthetic gypsum wallboard using the output of the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) process. This process removes sulfur dioxide from the emissions of fossil-fuel-burning power plants. Using this by-product helps conserve landfill space.
1993
Georgia-Pacific enters into a first-of-its-kind agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker on company lands.
The company’s Crossett, Ark., pulp and paper mill is accepted into OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), which recognizes exemplary safety programs. GP is the first forest products company to be accepted into the program.
1994
Georgia-Pacific is a founding/charter member of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI), a program that promotes sustainable forestry practices.
GP’s gypsum plant in Las Vegas, Nev., begins using co-generation to help meet its energy needs. As a result, the plant uses 70 percent less natural gas than traditional gypsum plants to produce wallboard.
The company publishes its first Environmental and Safety Report. The report features GP's new environmental and safety principles and a set of more than 50 goals designed to measure progress in these important areas.
Compact® bath tissue and dispensers are introduced for the away-from-home market. The coreless tissue and dispenser eliminate roll cores and significantly reduce packaging waste.
GP enters into a unique land agreement with The Nature Conservancy to protect more than 21,000 acres along the Lower Roanoke River in North Carolina.
1996
The Envision® line of commercial tissue products is introduced. This tissue and towel line meets or exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended guidelines for total and post-consumer recycled fiber content.
Georgia-Pacific’s employee volunteer program - ServiceForce - is created.
1997
The company begins sponsoring middle school science and math teachers to attend the nationally recognized Keystone Center for Education Key Issues Institute. Teachers attend a week long program where they learn how to investigate current environmental issues in an unbiased way and take those methods back to their classrooms.
GP’s away-from-home tissue business introduces EVA2, the first computer program to measure both the environmental and economic value added by these products and to inform the buyer at the point of sale.
1998
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals launches Amres® high-efficiency, high-solids, shelf-stable wet strength resins HP product line technologies. These unique chemistries allow paper chemical customers to reduce resin usage and freight and to extend product storage life.
1999
Georgia-Pacific’s wood and fiber procurement group becomes the first procurement organization to have its practices third-party certified under the SFI standard.
The Packaging Systems Optimization (PSO®) program is formally established. Using a rigorous packaging system assessment, the program is designed to help customers reduce material use and costs and meet their sustainability goals.
2000
Harmon Associates expands its recovered fiber trading business into Europe. The company trades 2.7 million tons of recovered paper this year.
Georgia-Pacific requires all its wood and fiber suppliers to use loggers trained in sustainable forestry practices.
Georgia-Pacific's sales exceed $20 billion for the first time.
The company marks its 10-year partnership with the St. Croix International Waterway Commission with the release of 750 adult Atlantic salmon into Maine's St. Croix River.
Georgia-Pacific develops a quantification model (GPCARB™) to help estimate the amount of carbon sequestered in forest products in use. The model is accepted by the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations.
The company implements its Product Hazard Analysis and Control (PHAC™) management system to facilitate compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other product safety and environmental regulations as well as with customer and company requirements.
2002
Georgia-Pacific introduces the enMotion® ”touchless“ towel dispenser. By controlling the amount of towels dispensed, it reduces waste at the source as well as improves hygiene for consumers.
GP develops a protocol for compiling greenhouse gas inventories for the company’s manufacturing facilities and subsequently completes its first inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from company facilities for the year 2000; the inventory will be conducted every other year.
Harmon Associates begins to trade recovered fiber in Mexico and Latin America.
Newly launched EasyNap® napkin dispensers reduce usage and waste by 30 percent compared with other standard products.
2003
GP’s packaging group opens the Innovation Institute, a package design and innovation lab that helps customers identify and reduce supply chain costs, optimize package designs, and measure sustainability factors.
Georgia-Pacific’s wood and fiber procurement group introduces Low Impact Thinning and Logging (LITE) for its timber suppliers. This enables them to log in the winter while minimizing the environmental effects of harvesting in wet weather.
2004
The company introduces Nitamin® fertilizers. The Steady Delivery nitrogen release helps achieve higher crop yields and grows strong turf while applying less nitrogen than commonly used quick-release fertilizers. This reduces nitrogen loss that can impact streams and rivers.
GP‘s Quilted Northern® bath tissue brand becomes a national sponsor of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® Series and a partner with Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, which helps fund research to find a cure for breast cancer.
The Russellville, S.C., chemical facility becomes the first GP facility to be accepted into the U.S. EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program. Performance Track is a voluntary program that recognizes and rewards businesses and public facilities that demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental performance.
GP employees help repair dozens of homes for low-income elderly and disabled people through a partnership with Rebuilding Together and the PGA Grand Champions Tour.
2005
The company joins the Green Power Market Development Group, a collaboration of leading corporations and the World Resources Institute dedicated to building corporate markets for green power.
Georgia-Pacific‘s wood and fiber procurement group enters a partnership with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to field test FSC standards and programs on private family forest lands in the South.
Three GP chemical facilities - Albany, Ore.; Columbus, Ohio; and Vienna, Ga. - are accepted into the U.S. EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program.
GP receives the prestigious Catalyst Award for its recruitment, development and advancement of women.
2006
GP develops a system that enables it to maximize truckload weights for its shipments of gypsum and wood products. The trucks still meet weight limits but can carry 5 to 10 percent more product per truckload, reducing vehicle miles traveled and the resulting environmental impact.
The Georgia-Pacific Impact Awards are created to recognize employee volunteers across the country for their leadership, initiative, innovation and impact in their communities.
Georgia-Pacific‘s Conway, N.C., chemical facility is accepted into the U.S. EPA's National Environmental Performance Track program, the fifth GP chemical facility in the program.
The company introduces Thermostat® radiant barrier sheathings, plywood and oriented strand board panels with a layer of highly reflective aluminum foil that reflects up to 97 percent of radiant heat.
The Georgia-Pacific Bucket Brigade is launched. The program awards grants to fire departments in GP communities to help provide the materials firefighters need to protect their communities and educate the public. Hundreds of GP employees are volunteer firefighters in their communities.
The company establishes Youth Entrepreneurs® of Atlanta in two of the city's high schools. The program provides high school students with business and entrepreneurial education and hands-on experiences that will help them succeed in the marketplace and in life.
GP and the National Wild Turkey Federation are awarded a grant to work on a longleaf pine restoration project on a total of 7,000 acres of land in the Southeast over three years.
2007
Harmon Associates expands into recycling plastic and metal for its customers. In addition, the company expands its presence to serve the growing recycling market in India.
Georgia-Pacific Professional begins showcasing the environmental benefits of its products using its Green by Design™ designation. These products support the U.S. EPA‘s strategy of reduce, reuse and recycle.
The company‘s European business launches the “Smile” initiative in the United Kingdom and Ireland featuring tissue and towel products for the public sector that are made of 100 percent UK and Ireland sourced waste and recovered fiber. As part of the initiative, the business pledges to eliminate any net contribution to local landfills by recycling the same tonnage of waste fiber that it supplies to the public sector as washroom paper products.
2008
Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products joins the SmartWay Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing air pollution.
GP’s consumer products group is recognized by the U.S. EPA as a Champion in its Design for the Environment Program’s Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI). The program recognizes environmental leaders who voluntarily commit to the use of safer surfactants that break down quickly to non-polluting compounds and help protect aquatic life in both fresh and salt water. Champion is the highest level of recognition offered under SDSI.
GP’s Angel Soft® brand bath tissue becomes the company’s first “billion-dollar brand,” with retail sales of more than $1 billion in one 52-week period.
With six more facilities accepted into OSHA‘s VPP during the year, GP now has more than 80 in the program, which recognizes the efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health.
Georgia-Pacific's consumer products retail business is named Supplier of the Year by Walmart, its top customer, in recognition of GP's level of service and business growth with the retailer. Walmart recognized the group's performance in its Consumables Division as well as in Department 4, which includes products representing thousands of brand name and private label suppliers.
2009
Georgia-Pacific receives the Sustainable Forestry Initiative's® (SFI®) 2009 President's Award for its efforts to increase understanding of SFI's fiber sourcing program and how it supports family forest owners across the United States.
The U.S. EPA names Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products a SmartWay® Excellence Award winner, recognizing the company for its leadership in promoting sustainable transportation practices through the SmartWay Transport Partnership.
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals launches a new line of low-emission adhesives called LEAF™ adhesives. These products are designed to help in complying with a variety of green building standards. The first products in this line are designed for particleboard and medium density fiberboard used in furniture paneling, cabinetry and other products with composite wood parts.
2010
Georgia-Pacific expands its forest protection and sustainability efforts by adopting an updated forest policy statement. GP's "Statement on Forest Protection and Sustainable Practices" affirms and expands the company's commitment to sustainable forestry and other practices, including recycling. It also establishes a scientific methodology to identify and protect endangered forests and special areas in the United States and promotes conservation of forest diversity.
Georgia-Pacific Professional is named Green Supplier of the Year by its customer W.W. Grainger, Inc., a leading distributor of facilities maintenance supplies. The award recognizes Georgia-Pacific Professional's efforts to build social, environmental and economic sustainability into its products and processes through its Green by Design® program. The business was also recognized with a Partners in Performance Award for operational excellence.
Georgia-Pacific adopts a set of guidelines for its suppliers that establish the company’s performance expectations in the social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability.
2011
Georgia-Pacific joined with The American Chestnut Foundation in an effort to reintroduce the American chestnut to its native habitat. The organizations planted 560 test chestnut saplings at GP's Big Island, Va., mill, which has made a 20-year commitment to provide and manage a protected plot of land so the saplings can be monitored in a natural setting. This event marked The American Chestnut Foundation's first corporate planting collaboration.
Georgia-Pacific provides $50,000 to the Vernonia Education Foundation in Vernonia, Ore., to help purchase timber products to build the Vernonia Rural Sustainability Center (VRSC) as part of the Vernonia School District's K-12 campus. The VRSC will include the school district's science classrooms and shop, and provide research, classroom and meeting space for college, community college and private sector research and job training initiatives connected to the development of forest sustainability and environmental stewardship best practices. The Vernonia community was severely damaged by a flood in 2007.
Social Dimension