AET BACKGROUNDER
Mission
The Alliance for Environmental Technology (AET) is an international association of chemical manufacturers and forest products companies dedicated to improving the environmental performance of the pulp and paper industry. AET was created to establish a clearinghouse of educational and technical resources relating to chlorine dioxide and its use in papermaking.
AET's ultimate goal is to continuously improve the environmental performance of U.S. and Canadian papermaking, and eliminate the discharge of toxic pollutants into our rivers, streams, lakes and oceans. And through education, AET will promote in the public arena new ways to protect the environment while -- at the same time -- produce high-quality paper products.
A New Technology
Chlorine dioxide is a practical, proven technology for use in papermaking. It is without rival in terms of environmental performance. It is safely produced at each mill, typically from the raw materials of sodium chlorate, sulfuric acid and methanol. Chlorine dioxide is remarkable, particularly in the way it reacts with organic compounds in wood. And it's this difference -- chlorine dioxide's distinct chemical properties -- that accounts for the compound's superior performance.
"Chlorine dioxide solves the problem of dioxin and other persistent, bio-accumulative toxic substances in pulp and paper mill waste water," so stated Dr. Robert Huggett at a February 10, 1994 EPA public hearing, who along with four other scientists authored in October 1993 a unanimous opinion on the ecological risks associated with chlorine dioxide.
AET Genesis
In February 1993, some 56 representatives of the paper industry and affiliated associations met at the University of Toronto to discuss how environmental responsibility could be balanced with high-quality papermaking. Two months later in Atlanta, working groups hammered out a mission statement and objectives. They agreed on the importance of recognizing chlorine dioxide as an effective pollution prevention strategy in papermaking. Sterling Pulp Chemicals' Robert Bannon, a co-founding member, invited interested parties to join. The result -- chemical manufacturers and forest products companies met in July to officially launch the association, The Alliance for Environmental Technology.
Unique Nature
AET is unique in its membership. It is vertically integrated, including suppliers, manufacturers and end-users. Member companies are chemical manufacturers, companies that use those chemicals for papermaking, and companies that purchase those paper products.
AET member company Sterling Pulp Chemicals, for example, produces chemical products and makes chlorine dioxide manufacturing technology for the North American paper industry. In turn, Mead Paper Co., headquartered in Dayton, Ohio uses those chemicals to produce high-quality paper products.