Responsibility

I’m proud to work for a company that cares deeply about how we use our resources and how we treat the world around us. As we innovate and manufacture the essentials that help people make their lives better, we take our stewardship role seriously.

Sheryl Corrigan, Director of Environmental, Health & Safety

See the past, present and future of purposeful stewardship at Koch

Five steps we take.

Every day, we work to create more value, using fewer resources than the day before. We do it by managing our resources in a way that benefits our customers, employees, partners, community members and society with a philosophy of mutual benefit. With more than 300 manufacturing sites across the United States, we’re one of America’s largest manufacturers. To stay in business for the long term, we must constantly improve and innovate – both in the products we make and how we make them.

Reducing Waste

Ninety-two percent. A total of 580 million pounds. That’s how much of the production-related waste our reporting facilities recycled, recovered for energy or treated in 2018. From 2012 to 2018, we've reduced our production-related waste footprint by 41%. It’s a commitment reflected in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) TRI National Analysis Report. And we’re nowhere near done yet.

Naheola Mill | Georgia-Pacific

Our Georgia-Pacific Naheola mill in Pennington, Alabama, has diverted nearly 88% of its waste. In 2019, the facility diverted 82,552 cubic yards of process waste – enough to fill 25 Olympic-size swimming pools – and reused it for energy and new recycled paper products.

Saving Energy

Efficient processes require saving energy. That's why we’ve invested more than $600 million, and years of hard work and innovation into energy saving initiatives, and we'll continue to do so. In fact, over the last five years we’ve saved enough energy to power more than 360,000 households for an entire year. As an active partner and leader in the industry, we were recognized as Energy Star Partner of the Year in 2017.

AC Kinetics Experiment | Georgia-Pacific

We are testing algorithms that could cut 1/3 of the energy consumed by AC induction motors and applying the technology to our tissue production line. AC induction motors consume 45% of the world's power generation.

Recycling Resources

Each of our companies promote effective resource management and recycling throughout its operations. Our fiber sourcing practices are even certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® Fiber Sourcing Standard. For example, paper recovery and recycling is a big priority for us. Georgia-Pacific invested in their ability to recycle recovered paper, which increased our capability to recycle mixed paper into new paper products by more than 50%. In addition, one of our businesses, Georgia-Pacific Recycling, is one of the world’s largest buyers and sellers of wastepaper.

Green Bay & Muskogee Mills | Georgia-Pacific

Georgia-Pacific’s Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Muskogee, Oklahoma, recycled paper mills are now recycling previously unrecyclable paper cups into new paper products.

Preventing Pollution

Since 2012, we have implemented more than 1,000 pollution reduction activities – practices that reduce the amount of materials entering the waste stream, including changes in the design, manufacturing process, purchase or use of materials. Our companies are applying new technologies to monitor emissions leaks and correct and prevent them in real time. And our companies are investing in improvements -- one Georgia-Pacific facility has decreased its sulfur dioxide emissions by 94%.

Corpus Christi Refineries | Flint Hills Resources & Molex

Flint Hills Resources and Molex teamed up to create a network of hundreds of digital sensors, or sniffers, that constantly take measurements, and feed the mountains of real-time data via wireless antennas into the cloud to identify leaks. The new system has the potential to reduce emissions by as much as 70 tons, which is comparable to the annual emissions of more than 5,000 vehicles, per year.

Community Partnerships

We’re all about making life, including wildlife, better. Fourteen Koch sites, comprising more than 312,900 acres, have earned Wildlife Habitat Council Certification for commitment to habitat conservation and environmental education. This is just one of the many ways we’re partnering with our communities for positive change.

Beaverhead Ranch | Matador Cattle Company

Matador Cattle Company was awarded two of the Wildlife Habitat Council’s (WHC) highest honors for its conservation and preservation efforts in 2019 at its Beaverhead Ranch. Beaverhead Ranch encompasses 345,000 acres of owned and leased land in southwest Montana. Matador Cattle Company’s enduring commitment to environmental stewardship was recognized by WHC for its programs in wildlife habitat enhancement, restoration and conservation.