Characterization of Annual Air Emissions Reported by Pulp and Paper Mills in Atlantic Canada

The pulp and paper industry is a major contributor to water and air pollution globally. Pulp and paper processing is an intensive energy consuming process that produces multiple contaminants that pollute water, air, and affect ecological and human health. In Canada, the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is used to assess the release of air pollutants into the atmosphere from industrial facilities (including pulp and paper mills) and provides a repository of annual emissions reported by individual facilities. This study compared annual air emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, total particulate matter (TPM), PM2.5, PM10, sulphur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds from nine different pulp and/or paper mills in Atlantic Canada from three provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador) between 2002 and 2019. Results revealed that annual releases were several orders of magnitude higher than federal reporting thresholds suggested by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Pulp mills emit higher pollutant loads than those producing paper. The highest exceedance of a reporting threshold was for particulate matter (PM2.5) at Northern Pulp in Nova Scotia. The emissions of PM2.5 were on average (over a 17-year period) about 100,000% above the reporting threshold of 0.3 tonnes per year.