Today, at the Canfor Winter Garden at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Joe Nemeth, CEO of Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership (CPLP), presented the first installment of the Canfor Pulp Grants Program totaling $75,000 over three years to UNBC researchers.
Canfor and Canfor Pulp's contributions to UNBC already total more than $1.5 million.
Mr. Nemeth presented the award to Associate Professors in the faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Steve Helle and Michael Rutherford for their research on value-added ash utilization.
Currently, Canfor Pulp disposes the ash from their bioenergy production in landfills. The UNBC project seeks to take that nutrient-rich ash and test its applications for soil supplementation in forests and agriculture.
Mr. Nemeth noted the importance of the project. "It not only addresses an environmental issue related to ash disposal from our mills, but seeks to turn this into an advantage in enhancing our forest resource. We look forward to collaborating with UNBC."
"It's great to be part of a research project that allows us to develop practical solutions to current economic and environmental issues facing our community and region," says Dr. Mike Rutherford. The project also has potential implications for the ash produced at UNBC's own Bioenergy Plant.
In opening remarks at the ceremony, President and Vice Chancellor of UNBC, George Iwama thanked CPLP for this forward-thinking program, noting that it "will increase links between UNBC and CPLP whose three pulp mills are a key economic engine of our Prince George community."
The award is the first in the Grants Program announced in June 2011 to foster collaborative research between CPLP and UNBC and the University of British Columbia (UBC). The goal of the program is to provide funding to one research project per year at both UNBC and UBC that fits the grant criteria, addressing environmental issues in a sustainable way.
