Towards corporate social responsibility: the pulp and paper industry in Lebanon

The paper, “Towards Corporate Social Responsibility: The Pulp and Paper Industry in Lebanon,” by Toufic Mezher, Mutasem El-Fadel, Wajih Farkouf, from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, focuses on the pulp and paper industry of Lebanon. This industry happens to be one of the most resource-intensive industries. The process of making pulp and paper is explained with corresponding environmental loads along the entire supply chain. The paper discusses the concept of corporate sustainability and cleaner production (CP)11 in the context of the global industry. The paper also presents several environmental management strategies and best practices involving all the stakeholders to render this industry more sustainable – building a sustainable enterprise, human resource development, foreign direct investment, international standard certification, etc. An elaborate action plan for rendering the pulp and paper industry more sustainable has been drawn out. Some of the aspects suggested in the action plan include encouraging paper recycling, regulating water consumption, building a technology triangle, etc. Since the CP technology is a powerful and potentially effective tool suited to the needs of Lebanon and also other developing countries, special mention has been made of this aspect in the conclusion.