Highlights at different plants:
Highlights at different plants:
Waste management
Optimizing the reuse and recycling of
industrial waste
Despite the ramp-up of new machines at the Ortigueira Plant in Paraná and the startup of the Piracicaba II Plant in São Paulo, the Company's solid waste reuse and recycling rate rose slightly between 2023 and 2024, from 99.3% to 99.35%. As part of its strategy to further increase this indicator, monthly critical analyses are carried out to monitor it and determine improvement measures at all industrial plants.
In 2024, the Lages Plant in Santa Catarina significantly enhanced its performance in this area by sending sludge waste for composting and hazardous waste for co-processing. Elsewhere in the same state, the Otacílio Costa Plant reinforced its co-processing contract to recover energy from non-recyclable waste. In the state of Amazonas, the Manaus I and Manaus II plants started to send printing process waste for composting and hazardous waste for co-processing.
In search of opportunities to achieve the goal of zero waste sent to landfills, the Monte Alegre and Ortigueira plants maintained integrated their waste management work, and the Solid Waste Management Center played a major role in providing opportunities for the reuse and recycling of industrial waste. Another important initiative was the startup of biological and tertiary sludge drying systems for energy generation at the Ortigueira Plant.
The Company continues to work to come up with options for processing specific types of waste, with the support of its Research and Development team and the technical operating teams at industrial plants. One key challenge is the sustainable disposal of pulper ropes and screening rejects generated in the paper recycling process, which accounted for approximately 40% of total non-reused/non-recycled waste in 2024. Similarly, a sustainable disposal solution is still needed for a portion of the dregs (a type of solid waste) generated during the recovery of chemicals used in the pulp manufacturing process. The priority is to find sustainable solutions for this matter.
Rio Verde (Goiás)
The plant operated without sending any industrial waste to landfills, maintaining the excellent performance achieved in 2023.
Lages (Santa Catarina)
The proportion of industrial waste recycled or reused increased from 86.37% to 93.73%.
Ortigueira (Paraná)
The plant achieved 99.78% recycling and reuse, thanks to a significant contribution from its Waste Processing Center.
Otacílio Costa (Santa Catarina) and Monte Alegre (Paraná)
They recycled or reused over 99.9% of industrial waste.
Circular Economy Management Plan
Over the last four years, Klabin has strengthened its circular economy management by setting specific targets and establishing a governance structure for the topic within its Sustainability Area. In 2024, the Company advanced in this area by approving its Circular Economy Procedure and structuring a circular economy management Plan. The latter document explains the subject’s importance to Klabin and presents the Company’s positioning in this field in relation to its operations.
Klabin’s circular economy approach is based on three pillars:
Três pilares sustentam a o trabalho de economia circular:
Três pilares sustentam a o trabalho de economia circular:
Similar to the approach to climate issues, decisions related to the circular economy have a structured governance framework, involving approval from executive leadership and advice from the Risks and Internal Controls Committee and Sustainability Committee. Managerial areas are involved in identifying, analyzing, treating and monitoring risks and opportunities.
Employees actively participate in management through a working group made up of people from different areas of the Company. This group has undergone training to understand what circular economy projects mean to Klabin. At meetings held every two months, the professionals involved monitor project indicators, present potential risks for Klabin and its customers, and work on opportunities to promote the circular economy.
Muda Project
Positioning itself as a driver of circularity in its value chain, Klabin aims to have 10 circular economy benchmarking cases in partnership with stakeholders by 2030. The Company presently has four circular economy projects under way and another six under evaluation.
In 2024, a new circular economy initiative called the Muda Project was launched. Developed in partnership with the circular solutions company Grupo Muda, this initiative is structuring selective waste collection across 52 residential condominiums in the city of São Paulo. The project encompasses environmental education, the installation of voluntary drop-off points, the collection and sorting of recyclable materials, and their subsequent sale, in collaboration with cooperatives of recyclable material collectors. As of the closing date of this report, this work had already impacted the residents of over 5,400 apartments.
Waste collection results:
Waste collection results:
547 metric tons
of paper and paper packaging
208 metric tons
of glass
170 metric tons
of plastic
45 metric tons
of metal
