On a misty spring-time Dartmoor morning, a group of employees and customers of Premier Paper Group got together for a company tree planting day in East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve. As a paper manufacturer and supplier, Premier Paper is aware of its corporate responsibility for the resources they use and is working with the Woodland Trust on a ‘Carbon Capture’ scheme. The regional manager of Premier Paper explained how the paper industry uses a proportion of recycled material when possible but the product quality can’t be maintained indefinitely, so new “virgin” pulp is required. He described how the supply chain meets FSC and PEFC standards, saying “the industry plants more trees than it fells and today we’re putting some trees back in the ground”.
Premier Paper Group tree planting team
Out in the woods the Woodland Trust staff explained the planting task and gave a demonstration of how to use the tree shelters to guard the saplings. Richard Brown briefed the volunteers, saying that “the species we’re planting are all the usual trees you might expect to find in a Dartmoor woodland. They’re mainly oak with a mix of other trees and shrubs like hazel, rowan, hawthorn and cherry”.
Replenishing stocks of native species in woodlands like this is the way the Carbon Capture scheme works. Premier Paper Group with their clients and customers ‘capture CO2 emissions from their paper purchases by planting native woodland, right here in the UK’. As the trees grow, the carbon will be locked up for the lifetime of the woods.
As the planting began in an industrious atmosphere, the spades hit the ground and, in no time, the first section of planting was complete. A corner of a restored Devon woodland planted and protected in tubes to keep the browsing deer away from the imminent flush of bursting buds.
A team of local woodland contractors supervised the task and demonstrated the techniques, but the volunteers needed no encouragement. Enjoying his day outdoors, one of the stationery suppliers said “it’s great to be out of the office”.
As the day continued, the Dartmoor drizzle developed into longer showers but the planters were equally persistent and carried on their work. Planting over 800 trees, they replenished the natural resources through ‘Woodland Carbon’ (see link below). All in all it was a captivating day out in Pullabrook Woods.
by Matt Parkins
You can follow this link to find out more about the Woodland Trust’s Woodland Carbon for Business – a unique scheme to help companies reduce their carbon footprint by locking up carbon emissions through planting trees.
Follow this link to read more about the Carbon Capture scheme and Premier Paper
East Dartmoor Woods blog 