Smurfit Kappa has announced that it will invest €27 million in a new, state-of-the-art waste management and recovery facility at its Nervión paper mill, in Iurreta, Spain.
According to the packaging firm, the investment will see the mill adopt a fully circular production process, involving the biggest landfill reduction project that Smurfit Kappa has undertaken to date, to support the delivery of its 2025 sustainability commitments.
Commenting on the investment, Javier Rivas, Smurfit Kappa COO of paper and board in Europe, said, “At Smurfit Kappa, we care deeply about new ways in which we can embed circularity into our business, particularly when we are talking about the production process.”
Lime Kiln
The lime kiln and gas treatment system will have a production capacity of 120 tonnes of lime per day and provide ‘significant environmental benefits’.
Smurfit Kappa explained that the new circular system will allow the calcium carbonate waste that is currently generated in the mill’s manufacturing process to be transformed into lime, and subsequently reintroduced into the production process as a raw material.
“With this new lime kiln and gas treatment system, we will be able to recover and reuse more of our materials,” Rivas added.
“We look forward to seeing the new system up and running later this year.”
This will have a positive impact on the mill’s carbon footprint by diverting 75,000 tonnes of waste from landfill and eliminating approximately 450,000 kilometres per year in road transport, the company added.
Smurfit Kappa noted that the project is nearing completion, and the plant is expected to be fully operational later in the year.
© 2023 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more packaging stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
