Smurfit Kappa opens recycling plant in Spain

Ireland-based Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) has opened a new recycling plant in Malaga, Spain. SKG says the new plant will process more than 30,000 metric tons of recovered fiber per year.

The recovered fiber handled at the new facility will be shipped to SKG’s Mengibar Containerboard mill in Jaen, Spain, where it will be converted into recycled-content board.

“We are proud to open the doors of this innovative new plant, which is further evidence of our ongoing commitment to sustainable development,” says Ignacio Sánchez, Smurfit Kappa’s recycling country manager for Spain.

“Paper-based packaging is 100 percent recyclable,” he continues. “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.”

Adds Henri Vermeulen, vice president of SKG’s recovered fiber business unit, “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. We are therefore very pleased to have opened another recovered paper plant.”

Smurfit Kappa operates what it calls a global network of recycling plants. The company recently completed the purchase of a 12,000-square-meter (129,000-square-foot) site in Blackburn, United Kingdom, to increase its recycling capabilities in the region.