Hamburger Recycling acquires Kastas Kagit

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Austria-based Hamburger Recycling, part of the Prinzhorn Group, has signed an agreement to purchase Izmir Bornova, Turkey-based recycling company Kastas Kagit. The firm operates a recycling facility that handles paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, nylon and packaging. The 10,000-square-meter (328,000-square-foot) site is equipped with two balers, one sorting line and a transport center. The site is staffed with 130 people and can process 60,000 metric tons of paper for recycling each year.

Hamburger Recycling says the facility’s location in the Izmir region positions it to collect and trade secondary raw materials for the Austrian company. It also reinforces the Prinzhorn Group’s approach to sustainable life cycle management of valuable raw materials.

“With the acquisition of Kastas we are happy to have found our perfect match in Turkey,” says Andreas Walser, managing director of Hamburger Recycling Division. “It also marks a major step towards the supply of our recently announced paper mill project in Kütahya.”

Hamburger Turkey Ltd. has signed a land purchase agreement to build a third paper mill in Turkey 250 kilometers (about 150 miles) southeast of Istanbul. The new paper machine will be 7.8 meters (more than 25 feet) wide and will be able to produce 480,000 metric tons of containerboard, mainly lightweight testliner and fluting. The €300 million ($351 million) investment will create 500 new jobs and is planned to be completed in 2020, the company says.

Including the additional recycling site, Hamburger Recycling has the capacity to recycle 145,000 metric tons of paper annually in Turkey.

Hamburger Recycling operates 32 recycling centers in 12 countries, with a total capacity to process 1.35 million metric tons of scrap paper each year.

The Prinzhorn Group, also based in Austria, employs 6,300 people in 15 countries and ranks among the European market leaders in the packaging, paper and recycling industry. With annual sales of €1.23 billion (1.44 billion), the group says it is the third largest in Europe in this segment.

The family-owned Prinzhorn Group has three divisions: Dunapack Packaging (corrugated packaging products), Hamburger Containerboard (production of containerboard) and Hamburger Recycling (collection and trading of secondary raw materials).