Photo by: Duane Daws
Signalling its exit from the the recycled paper packaging market, pulp and paper manufacturer Sappi on Monday transferred its Cape Kraft mill, in Milnerton, Cape Town, to Golden Era Group.
It announced the sale of the mill, which used around 67 000 t/y of waste paper to produce 60 000 t/y of 100% recycled paper, to Golden Era, in July.
Sappi Southern Africa would now shift its focus to its commercial timber operations, enhancing its dissolving wood pulp capacity at the Ngodwana and Saiccor mills and investing in containerboard capacity at its Tugela and Ngodwana mills, its tissue and office paper capacity at the Stanger mill and its newsprint capacity at Ngodwana mill.
During the course of 2016, Sappi would also invest in projects to increase the company’s energy self-sufficiency through the installation of new turbines at the Tugela and Saiccor Mills.
The turbines would produce about 23 MW of power and contribute to increasing Sappi Southern Africa’s self-sufficiency from 56% to 72% by the end of 2016. This would mitigate against any future power shortages but, more importantly, would lower Sappi’s energy costs.