In this chapter, pollution performance of the pulp and paper companies,
based on an aggregation of the mill pollution performance, is presented.
Information is presented first for each of the three pollutants discussed in
chapter 5 and then for the overall pollution performance of the firm. For
1978, 13 companies are included since not enough pollution information
was available for Kimberly Clark or Union Camp. The 1983 and 1986 pollu-
tion information includes all 15 firms whose mills were analyzed in
chapter 5.

Pulp and paper mills operate in different parts of the United States, using
different processes in making pulp and paper, and the wastewater empties
into rivers, streams and lakes of different sizes. Thus, it is difficult to com-
pare these mills either individually or in aggregate. Nevertheless, all the
managers of these mills should have been aware of the goals of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972 to make all lakes, streams,
and rivers swimmable or fishable and to achieve no pollution discharge by
1985. Furthermore, the technology to clean up the mill to a near-zero level
of pollution was available to the firms by 1983. Therefore, the level of pollu-
tion that the mill emitted was a decision that was controlled by the firm's
managers.

In order to compare companies that have mills of different sizes it was
necessary to calculate the pollution emissions per ton of production. These
calculations were done in chapter 5 for each company and for those mills for
which production data were available. This chapter focuses on BOD, TSS

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