Catalyst curtails production in Powell River

Crown van Gelder will start selling paper made with sugar beet in January 2021. This makes the Dutch paper manufacturer the first in the world to produce 'sugar beet paper' at an industrial level. The new product line called 'Crown Native' uses less wood fibres to achieve a reduced impact on the environment of 16% compared to traditional paper. Crown Native was developed with the Dutch agricultural cooperative Royal Cosun as a strategic partner. The agricultural process residue from Cosun's production process, beet pulp, forms a valuable resource for the paper. With Crown Native, Crown Van Gelder has succeeded in creating paper made out of 20% beet pulp, thus achieving environmental gains in several areas. Due to the local sourcing, far less transport is required. As a result, Crown Native realises a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and particulate matter formation. Moreover, by using beet pulp, the production process requires less water. 'And because we're using a residual source, no additional agricultural land is needed,' Dronkers adds. A big advantage of using sugar beet pulp is that it is FDA compliant. 'The pulp is classified as a former food product,' Dronkers explains. As a result, Crown Native is approved and suitable for food packaging, unlike recycled paper for example. Dronkers: ‘This makes our sugar beet paper the ideal choice for product packaging, but also for shopping bags and promotional print. Crown Native is the perfect fit for brands with a sustainability ambition.’

Stora Enso has signed an agreement to divest its paper production site in Hylte, Sweden and all its related assets to Sweden Timber, a Sweden-based sawmill and planing mill company. The enterprise value is approximately EUR 18 million. The completion of the transaction is expected in the first half of 2023. Concerning the Anjala paper site in Finland, Stora Enso has decided to discontinue the divestment process. The Hylte site transaction, along with the discontinuation of the Anjala divestment, concludes Stora Enso’s plan announced in March 2022 to divest four of Stora Enso’s five paper production sites. In line with its strategy, Stora Enso’s focus is on long-term growth for its renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations. The retained Anjala and Langerbrugge sites will continue paper production and serving their respective customers. The agreement to divest the Hylte paper site to Sweden Timber has no immediate impact on production nor customer deliveries.

Together with RISE, IsoTimber and Moelven, Stora Enso has been working on the most recent development of NeoLigno – 100% fossil-free structural boards and building elements. Stora Enso has launched NeoLigno®, a revolutionary lignin-based binder for particleboard and insulation applications. We are committed to doing good for people and the planet, which is why we always look to innovate new, renewable alternatives where fossil-based materials are being used today. In this case, we asked ourselves: What if we could come up with a bio-based binding agent that keeps all the technical qualities of traditional binders while also being safe and renewable? Our answer to this question is NeoLigno® by Stora Enso.