Mondi, a leading global packaging and paper company, will be planting over 3,000 trees at five of its paper mills across Europe in support of this year's European Paper Bag Day. Initiated by the association of Europe's leading kraft paper and paper bag producers, of which Mondi is a member, the annual action day on 18 October aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustainably managed forests as a central element of the paper bag value chain. As research shows, forests are essential for people, wildlife and climate. They act as a carbon sink and store CO2, which later remains in the paper bags made from the trees.

Markus Gärtner, CEO Mondi Corrugated Packaging, is proud to be taking part in the forestation event and explains: "As wood is one of our primary raw materials, access to sustainable and responsibly managed sources is important to our business. In addition, using paper bags - a renewable and 100% recyclable solution - helps to mitigate climate change. With this campaign, we want to motivate more people to demonstrate environmental responsibility in their packaging choices by using, reusing and recycling paper bags."

Kennert Johansson, Acting Secretary General of CEPI Eurokraft, states: "By celebrating European Paper Bag Day 2019, we want to raise awareness of the advantages of paper carrier bags as a sustainable packaging solution that contributes to the reduction of environmental pollution. Paper bags are made from wood, a natural and ever-growing resource. Thanks to the continuous replanting of trees, forest land in Europe is growing by 1.4% annually. This is equivalent to an area nearly as big as Paraguay."