H10. Water

Essity’s Group target for water is that the company’s tissue operations will reduce the level of suspended solids, the volume of water used and organic content (BOD) by 10% by 2020, with 2014 as reference year.

In 2019, levels of suspended solids decreased 25.8% (18.5; 19.7), volumes of effluent water by 1.9% (2.9; 4.7) and the amount of organic content (BOD) by 28.5% (25.0; 25.4).

Usage and discharge of water

Essity’s reporting of water usage states totals for surface water, groundwater and municipal water systems. Most of Essity’s water is used to transport fibers during production processes. The remainder is mainly used as cooling water. 74% (75; 74) of the water used is drawn from surface sources. Essity’s effluent water is divided into cooling water and process water. Cooling water has simply been heated and is not contaminated in any way. Process water is treated using mechanical and biological treatment systems.

The emissions to water stated in the tables comprise COD, BOD, suspended solids, AOX, P and N.

Six of Essity’s wholly owned production facilities are located in so-called water-stressed areas. The sites accounted for 6% of Essity’s total water consumption in 2019, distributed between 36% from surface sources, 35% from groundwater and the remainder from recycled water from municipal water systems.

Any environmental incidents are registered in a central incident-reporting system. In 2019, a small number of incidents relating to temporary exceedances of permitted limit values for waste water were registered. No incident was of such a magnitude that it posed a threat to an emissions permit.

Water extraction 2019