Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa has opened a new recycling plant in Malaga, Spain, which the company says will strengthen its recovered paper service in the region.
The plant, which is expected to process over 30,000 tonnes of recovered paper annually, will collect paper from households and businesses, and convert it into board that can be used to create new packaging.
“This facility will play a significant part in our ongoing strategic priority to ensure the permanent availability of enough good quality recovered paper to guarantee the demands of all our customers in the chain," said Herni Vermeulen, vice president of Smurfit Kappa Recovered Paper.
Sustainable Packaging
Ignacio Sánchez, the company's recycling country manager for Spain, added that this opening is evidence of the group's ongoing commitment to sustainable development.
“Paper-based packaging is 100% recyclable," he said. "All corrugated, solid board and folding carton can be put through a process to make it into another box in as little as 14 days, demonstrating a truly closed loop approach.”
Elsewhere, Smurfit Kappa recently completed the purchase of a 12,000 square metre site in Blackburn to increase its recycling capabilities in the UK.
These openings come at a critical time for the packaging industry. Earlier this week, the European Commission launched the first-ever Europe-wide strategy on plastics, with the aim of ensuring that all packaging in the EU market is reusable or recyclable by 2030.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
