There has been a lot of customer interest in climate change, carbon footprints and carbon neutral products. Robert Horne wanted to be innovative in responding to this interest and test the market demand for a carbon neutral product.  Revive 75 was chosen to do this because its strong environmental credentials would appeal to customers potentially interested in a carbon neutral product and, the manufacturer was keen to work with us to bring the first such paper product to the UK market.

Revive 75 became carbon neutral in June 2007. Robert Horne and its manufacturing partner worked with The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management to establish the product's carbon footprint. Once this was known, Robert Horne invested in offsetting projects to reduce the carbon emissions of others by an amount equivalent to the emissions related to manufacturing the product. Two projects were chosen with the help of The CarbonNeutral Company® - using agricultural waste for bio-energy in India and small-scale hydropower in China. Due to system restrictions at the time it was not possible to provide a carbon neutral product as an option, so Revive 75 became carbon neutral as a standard offering. However, despite a great deal of anecdotal interest, real demand in carbon neutral paper products has yet to materialise.

We have learnt a lot about establishing the carbon footprint of a paper product, as well as the pros and cons of carbon offsetting. The manufacturer also developed a greater understanding of their contribution to climate change, which has enabled them to target areas for improvement (e.g. installing more efficient vacuum pumps). Our investment in the offsetting projects has helped to ensure their long-term success in reducing carbon emissions in those countries. Focus on these issues has also led to the development of IT systems so that we have the potential to provide revive 75 as carbon neutral on an optional basis.

Therefore, Robert Horne's revive 75 product is no longer carbon neutral as standard. However, customers can, on request, still choose to make revive 75 carbon neutral. Revive 75 still contains 75% recovered fibre and remains a FSC Mixed Sources grade.

For more information about this development, please contact your local branch.