Corrugated packaging company Smurfit Kappa has inaugurated two investments in Spain, as part of its commitment to achieve sustainability targets.
The company has installed more than 12,000 solar panels at its Sangüesa paper mill, which, along with its biomass and recovery boilers, will help meet more than half of the mill's annual energy needs.
The solar panel installation in the Navarra region, which cost €6m, is expected to cut the mill's annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by more than 3,000 tonnes (t).
Since 2005, the Sangüesa paper mill has successfully reduced its CO₂ emissions by more than 51%.
Additionally, Kappa invested €27m in its Nervión paper mill, which will transition the facility to a fully circular production process.
This change is part of Smurfit Kappa's largest landfill reduction initiative to date, which will divert 75,000t of waste from landfills and cut approximately 450,000km of road transport annually.
These investments will improve the circularity of the production processes at the two mills.
Kappa CSO Garrett Quinn said: “These two projects demonstrate the group’s continued investment to deliver on its sustainability goals with over €30m in these two projects alone, delivering reduced emissions, and increasing the circularity of our production process.”
The inauguration events for the Sangüesa and Nervión mills were attended by Smurfit Kappa Group CEO Tony Smurfit.
Meanwhile, cable management company Marshall-Tufflex has collaborated with Kappa to further transition to recyclable packaging, Packagingnews.co.uk reported.
The partnership aligns with Marshall-Tufflex’s strategic aim to transport goods safely and sustainably as part of its Net Zero campaign.
In response, Kappa developed custom folding packaging boxes, which eliminate the need for plastic tape and a shipper.
The glue-free, self-seal mailing boxes reportedly use 100% Forest Stewardship Council-approved recycled materials.
Earlier this month, Kappa agreed to acquire a Bulgaria-based Bag-in-Box packaging facility, Artemis.
