With the investment, the flexibility of the product range and the Varkaus mill site’s total capacity will be increased by around 10 percent. While the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the preparatory work for the investment will be immediately started, the expansion is expected to be completed by 2022-end.
December 29, 2021
Stora Enso has announced the investment of EUR 23 million (~USD 26 million) in its Varkaus containerboard mill site in Finland. The objective of the investment is to increase the flexibility of the product range and to increase the site’s total capacity by approximately 10 percent. This will also increase the use of recycled fiber in the production in addition to fresh wood fiber. The investment is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
The Varkaus mill site has a production capacity of – 310,000 TPA of unbleached softwood pulp and 390,000 TPA of high-quality brown and white top containerboard for corrugated board, i.e. kraftliner. Besides unbleached softwood pulp, around one-third of the total packaging board recycled in Finland is utilised as its raw material at the paper mill.
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As an integral part of the Stora Enso Packaging Materials Division, the Varkaus mill has extensive know-how in utilising wood fibers beginning from product design to finished products and up to recycling. Since the recycling of paperboard packaging products is a key sustainability goal, investments in recycling capacity are a concrete way to support this goal. Stora Enso aims to achieve 100 percent renewable products that are in line with Circular Economy and have positive carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Jarkko Tehomaa, Varkaus Packaging Board Mill Director, Stora Enso, says, “The investment will increase the capacity of our recycled fiber site and give us the flexibility to increase the use of recycled fiber in our portfolio. The investment will also improve production efficiency through technical changes in both the board machine and the pulp mill drying machine.”
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The environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the updating of the environmental permit, and the preparatory work for the investment, will be immediately started.
