Sustainable Resources

• No new trees are harvested for our production of particleboard. All of our wood supply comes from sawmills, planning mills, and other sources where the wood is a waste from a primary product production.
• Approximately 5% of the wood received comes from secondary use sources such as construction/demolition debris and pallets.
• A portion of the decorative papers used in laminate production process contain a proportion of recycled content.

Protecting Our Water

• Closed loop hot oil heat exchange systems are used to reduce the amount of water required for the process.

Ensuring Cleaner, Healthier Air

• The state-of-the art EcoDry system installed at the Huntsville, Ontario facility controls the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions that are generated from the wood chip drying process. Emissions from the process have been reduced to levels meeting regulatory guidelines for the industry sector.
• Water-based amino resins are used in the paper treatment and particleboard production processes to reduce fugitive emissions to the atmosphere.
• New EPA MACT standards are currently being proposed for the industry, which will result in even further reduction in HAPs and VOCs emitted to the atmosphere.

Waste Reduction

• Waste disposal to landfill from the Huntsville, Ontario facility has been reduced by 81% since 1994. This has resulted in approximately 38,000 tons of material diverted from a landfill per year.
• Recycling programs are established at all of the Panolam facilities. The materials recycled vary by facility and include such things as scrap metals and wood, cardboard and office papers, sawdust and sander dust, and pallets and other packaging materials. Most of the waste resins are also reused.
• The Huntsville facility has been a three time recipient of a Recycling Council of Ontario Award of Excellence for its 3R program (reduce-recycle-reuse).
• Spent fluorescent light tubes are off-site, where the mercury, glass and metal and caps are segregated, recycled and reused.

Panolam understands that when a company is dedicated to doing things right, we also have a responsibility to do the right things. We've opened our doors to regulators, our neighboring communities, and our customers, because we want to let you know that we're as proud of our environmental initiatives as we are of the quality of our products.