Metsa Board Sustainability Manager Nate Pajka

https://www.metsagroup.com/metsaboard/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-pajka/

How is Metsa Board more sustainable than other materials? 
Why is the material selection so important to the sustainability of your packaging? 
What are they doing to improve even further? 

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

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This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:31

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is Nate Pajka, the Sustainability Manager of Metsa Board How are you? Good. How are you, Cory? Really good. I was, Honored to get to hear you speak at the SUSPAC event. Your presentation was really inspiring and insightful. So kudos to you. I get to see a lot of presenters and they're not all great like yours was. I

Nate Pajka: 0:56

appreciate it. That, that means a lot. A lot of work went into it by a lot of us over here. So I really appreciate it.

Cory Connors: 1:01

Yeah, well

Nate Pajka: 1:02

done.

Cory Connors: 1:03

So let's talk about your background first before we get into your current job. How'd you get into this packaging related role?

Nate Pajka: 1:10

Ah, man, I guess it, it goes back, a little ways to, I grew up just outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, a big industrial town. certainly years ago, lots of mills over there and, went to Bates College, got a degree in chemistry for undergrad and went into the healthcare space. In Boston for a little while, but, I was always really interested in sustainability, environmental impacts. So I went back to school, went to grad school, got an MBA in sustainability and social change, and also a master's of environmental science and policy. I felt if I was able to be fluent in those, both those languages, so like business and sustainability, I could affect change at a kind of a greater, level. So did that, worked for a utility while I was there for a while, being a sustainability ambassador. And then, did a little work with the New York city department of environmental protection. And then I saw a Metsa board, job post. And so I was attracted by the green moose and, or as they call it in Finland, the elk. And I don't know, I got interested in the company and started doing some research. And before I knew it, I was realizing that everything around me was in packaging. I started to think back to my kind of industrial Worcester roots. And here I am three years later as a Metsa board sustainability manager.

Cory Connors: 2:31

Corywesome. And it's a great company that you work for. They seem to be doing really big things in this space. I do love the green moose. I think it's very, engaging and, different, interesting for sure. so let's talk about MetaGroup. What is it? What do you do? and how? Thank you.

Nate Pajka: 2:50

So, Metsa group is kind of our parent company. So they're owned by actually a cooperative, a Metz, a little called the Metz, a little cooperative. They made up of over 90, 000 private finish forest owners. a lot of apps there. and in Finland, like, About 80 percent of the total land is covered in forest, and much of it is actually owned by a lot of families. And so we get a lot of our raw material from these families that own our forests. These 90, 000 plus private finished forest owners. So it's this very interesting kind of ownership group and kind of value chain. that's perpetuated by underneath Metsa group. We've got our five sister companies. Metsa forest that takes care of the forest. Metsa wood that takes care of the wood and makes different wood products for building materials and whatnot. And you've got Metsa fiber that turns it into pulp. that's sold to our sister companies and then our partners and Metsa tissue that creates toilet paper and paper towels. So we run the gamut and then there's finally Metsa aboard. That's us. We produce this lightweight, high quality folding box board. That's used kind of in beauty care products, health care, consumer electronics, but also in food. So different fast foods, bakery items, confectionery. So, We're all over the place in terms of forest products and we just try to make the best out of the tree.

Cory Connors: 4:13

That's amazing, group of companies and it makes perfect sense that they're all in those different areas. I had no idea that Finland had so many trees. I haven't been there yet. I look forward to it. I remember in your presentation, you had a beautiful picture of, Finland in the presentation. I think a picture maybe you took on your travels there.

Nate Pajka: 4:33

Yeah, I love that picture from kind of Southern Helsinki looking out over the ocean and I'm actually really excited to be going back next week for two weeks to head over there and go to Sustainability Academy. So I'm really fortunate to be able to go over and check out the natural beauty a couple times a year.

Cory Connors: 4:50

That's wonderful. So your company puts on academies for its team there or is it, is it with somebody else? Yeah, absolutely.

Nate Pajka: 4:57

Yeah. So our company puts it on for different groups in the company, sales, technical services, and sustainability. So it's a great program that really teaches everybody different parts of our, our business model, which has been a great success. And it allows us to understand and get to know people, any other business areas, and by that, Metsa wood, Metsa forest, Metsa tissue. So we're in those programs with them as well. So it's a great, endeavor.

Cory Connors: 5:22

Well, they're all related and it's, it's important to use the pulp of the tree and the tree itself in the best ways possible to be the most sustainable. I got a few questions here. I want to ask, why is the raw material we use for packaging so important to its sustainability?

Nate Pajka: 5:38

Yeah, so, raw material choices is absolutely vital when it comes to ensuring the sustainability of packaging. it can really make or break that packages or the products total environmental impact. And I think the best way to explain that is by thinking about, what should be done and what could happen if you don't do it to answer this question. So it should be packaging should be made out of, renewable raw materials. Otherwise, we're not ensuring that we're not depleting natural resources. It should be made out of bio based raw materials where possible, so that we're not perpetuating the use of fossil fuels and fossil based raw materials that, may not break down naturally in the environment. Then there's strength and safety. number 1 goal is to protect that product inside because if we're not doing that product is going to go to the waste. The packaging is going to go to waste all of the energy and materials that went into creating those things. Now go to waste. Same for safety. If you have some sort of hazardous material, that's leaching or migrating into the product, contaminating it. Now you've got more waste. So strength and safety are really important for sustainability. and then circularity. Always considering end of life, making sure that the package is first easily recyclable. that means mono material or, at least easily separable. and also, if not recyclable, then certainly compostable and also finally, raw material that's from sustainable origins. So making sure you have that traceability. To know that it comes from a sustainably managed in our case, a sustainably managed forest or in other cases, ethically or sustainably managed companies. so that we're understanding where we're getting these raw materials. And these are all choices that are made about raw materials that lead to a lower environmental impact.

Cory Connors: 7:24

very well said I spent the 1st, 5 years of, my career working for a similar company that had forests and manage those forests and nobody cares more about the forest than the people that manage them for their businesses and nobody wants to grow more healthier trees than those people that own them. so I've always had a soft spot in my heart for those companies like yours. I noticed on your website that, it's you're close to, fossil fuel free mills at Metsa board. Tell us about that. That's really impressive.

Nate Pajka: 8:01

Yeah, it's, something that certainly we're all. really proud of and to your point a moment ago, because we're a company that is producing, wood based raw materials or wood based materials. We really do care about a low carbon future. It is, we want to make sure our forests are healthy and they continue to grow. And, so we set this really ambitious goal to stop using and purchasing fossil based energy at all of our facilities. By 2030. And so that means our scope 1 and 2 emissions, CO2 emissions will be completely eliminated by 2030. We had this goal approved by science based targets initiative. It meets the strictest requirements of the Paris agreement, limiting global warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels. and so. What we're doing is basically taking measures and investing in replacing fossil fuels with renewable fuels, fossil free electricity at all of our production units also shifting away from fossil based purchase energy and switching over to renewable fossil free alternatives. And so. you hinted at it, we're getting pretty close as of the end of 2023, we are 90 percent fossil free. And most of that is coming from, wood based biofuel that we get from our side streams. And so that's actually a 54 percent reduction since we started this, or we took this baseline in 2018. So in only six years, we've reduced our total scope one and two emissions by 54%.

Cory Connors: 9:33

Wow. Congratulations. That's really impressive. And, frankly, I don't hear a lot of very positive things like that, in the industry. people are trying, but I think it's, you've proven it here that you're being really aggressive, to improve and to be more sustainable as a company. And, yeah, so well done.

Nate Pajka: 9:52

Thank you. I really appreciate it. There's a lot of hard work. A lot of really great determined, smart people working on it and kudos to all of them.

Cory Connors: 10:00

I'll have to get out to Finland someday and check it out. That sounds really cool. I have a Norwegian background in my family and Irish, but no, no Finnish that I'm aware of, but I'd still love to check it out.

Nate Pajka: 10:11

Oh yeah. the Nordic area, Norway, Finland, and Sweden are all beautiful. They all have, certainly they're all unique qualities, but, yeah, definitely take a peek over there.

Cory Connors: 10:20

Right on. So it was good to see you at SUSPAC speak. do you speak at a lot of events? Is this is one of your aspects of your job, it sounds like?

Nate Pajka: 10:30

Yeah, it's a good sizable portion of my job. If I'm not speaking at conferences, I'm speaking with customers and prospective customers with our salespeople kind of telling our sustainability story. But yeah, I've been running the circuit for about 2 years now going to different events like sustainability and packaging, SPC, AICC events. even global food contact, EPAC, a bunch of different ones, just getting our name out there. And, we're a Finnish company and we're very big in the European market and have really been growing a lot here in the Americas and, trying to really grow ourselves in this market and the idea of sustainable packaging here. So that's my role in that.

Cory Connors: 11:10

That's

Nate Pajka: 11:10

great.

Cory Connors: 11:11

and we have to go to these shows to, to spread the word and to tell people about these opportunities. I wouldn't have heard about you if it wasn't for our meeting there, I think, because there's a lot of noise out there, but to meet somebody in person and shake their hand and get to know them. Personally is a big difference.

Nate Pajka: 11:30

Yeah, no, I completely agree. And you, that's, you proved my point right there. This is, that's exactly what it's all about is getting to know people networking and understanding what else is out there and who else you can talk to about advancing a circular economy and sustainable packaging.

Cory Connors: 11:45

there's a massive push to, fiber based, packaging, and I think we've talked about it in this podcast about why, and it makes sense to us, but one concern is that there won't be enough supply to, to meet this new demand. Can you speak to that and how your company is scaling to meet this new demand?

Nate Pajka: 12:06

Yeah. absolutely. Of course, a couple of years ago, in the height of COVID is when demand went absolutely bonkers. and then we did have, as everybody else did a really tough time cause it was, totally unusual and we weren't prepared for it. Nobody was, we got through it. And now what we've done is we've expanded the capacity of one of our mills in Husum, Sweden, to by 50 percent to 60 or 600, excuse me, 600, 000 metric tons. And much of that is destined for the America's market, actually. So, we're really working on ways to not only, Expand at our mills, given the current equipment, but also investing in new equipment to actually be even more materially efficient, where we're actually getting more out of the tree. So I'm what I mean by that is less raw material per carton to make sure that we're getting more out of the tree,

Cory Connors: 13:05

That's incredible to think about how things like using the bark for pulp and using all the aspects of the tree for, pulp, materials is, very innovative. And, I think what you and your company are doing are, commendable. So well done.

Nate Pajka: 13:21

Thank you. Yeah, that's one of our biggest things is, not wasting anything from the tree, finding no use for all of it.

Cory Connors: 13:27

anything else that you wanted to talk about before we, we call this?

Nate Pajka: 13:31

I don't think so. I think, we covered a lot of great stuff about Metsuboard and our parent company, Metsu Group. And, just about, like you said, it, like we talked about advancing sustainable packaging and getting our names out there. So I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to chat with you and get. Some of that, some of that stuff out there.

Cory Connors: 13:48

Oh, for sure. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you and MetaBoard?

Nate Pajka: 13:53

So, my team and I, certainly my Americas team, we can be found at most industry events. We typically have booths there. We're very active participants in trade shows, industry collaboratives. So definitely come up, reach out to us. we're happy to answer if I'm there. I'm happy to answer any sustainability questions you might have, even if they are unrelated to, maybe packaging. I love to talk sustainability with anybody. you can also find us on LinkedIn. We've got a Metsubord and Metsubord Americas accounts. Go ahead and follow them if you'd like. Our website is extremely comprehensive. Go check it out. We actually have a roadmap to our fossil free goal on there. It's interactive. So, feel free to play with that. You can go mill by mill. And then if you have any questions for me or you want to connect with me, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, Nathan Patchka. And then, feel free to send me an email and inquire about Metsub board at all at Nathan dot Patchka at, Metsub group. com.

Cory Connors: 14:51

Thank you so much, Nate. This has been really insightful. I appreciate your wisdom.

Nate Pajka: 14:55

My pleasure. It was great talking to Cory. Thank you very much.