Global packaging leader Smurfit Kappa has announced a multi-million-euro investment in technology at its Nettingsdorf Paper Mill in Austria that will significantly reduce CO₂ emissions while increasing production.

 

The project consists of building a state-of-the-art recovery boiler by 2020 and a new steam turbine by 2022 to help reinforce the facility’s industry-leading position in having the lowest energy consumption across the paper sector.

 

The new boiler will produce energy out of biomass, reducing CO₂ emissions at the Nettingsdorf mill by 40,000 tonnes – a 1.5-per-cent reduction in Smurfit Kappa Group’s total CO₂ emissions. The firm recently announced in its 2016 Sustainability Development Report that it has already cut CO₂ emissions by 23 per cent and is therefore well on the way to meeting its 2020 target of 25 per cent.

 

Günter Hochrathner, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Nettingsdorf, described the latest investment as “a very positive step” for the mill. “The new boiler and turbine will help us to become even more efficient, which in turn will benefit both our people and the wider community,” he enthused. “Nettingsdorf Paper Mill has a long history in the area and this investment in technology secures the long-term future of the mill.

 

“This new development will enable us to ensure the long-term supply of the high-quality, sustainable container board our customers expect from us,” he added.

 

An FTSE 100 company, Smurfit Kappa is one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging solutions in the world, with around 45,000 employees in approximately 370 production sites across 34 countries and with revenue of €8.2 billion in 2016. The company has long upheld that its products, which are 100-per-cent renewable and produced sustainably, improve the environmental footprint of its customers.