UPMKYMI
Impact
Responsible water use
Kymi river provides people with drinking water and opportunities
for business and leisure. The Kymi mills use water from Kymi river in paper and pulp production processes. The water is circulated several times and only a small portion of water leaves as effluent and is being replaced with fresh water. Before releasing water back to the river, it is carefully treated at the wastewater treatment plant and the quality is constantly monitored.
decrease in AOX emissions
(amount of chlorine bound in the organic compounds of effluent water per pulp tonne from 2011-2020)
decrease in COD emissions
(amount of oxygen reduction caused by organic compounds per pulp tonne from 2011-2020)
Despite the significant increase of pulp production, the AOX and COD emissions have decreased considerably due to investments made in the modern process technology.

Our commitments by 2030
(from 2008 levels)

- Use 100% recycled nutrients in effluent treatment
- Reduce wastewater volume by 30%
- Reduce effluent (COD) load by 40%
UPM supports the Baltic Sea Action Group's operations to prevent eutrophication
One of our 2030 environmental responsibility targets for water is to use only recycled nutrients at our biological wastewater treatment plants. We aim to utilise local operators’ sidestreams and this way reduce local eutrophication while also promoting the circular economy.

To achieve this target, we collaborate with various operators and non-governmental organisations, such as the
Baltic Sea Action Group.

Using recycled nutrients in our wastewater treatment while reducing wastewater volume and COD emissions supports the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

We aim to use water responsibly and to minimise the impact of our operations on water resources
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