Smurfit Kappa to invest $100 million to drive down emissions in Colombia

Pitt Plastics staff, along with the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce Koehn Construction Services, and key city staff gathered on East Atkinson Avenue at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility. The expansion will result in additional jobs at a scope to be determined upon the project’s expected completion by January 2025. Pitt Plastics is an Inteplast Group affiliate company within the IBS Division. The 200,000 sq.-ft. facility will house racked, finished goods, and also encompass 14,000 square feet of office space. Currently, the existing site is 300,000 square feet and employs approximately 350 manufacturing professionals serving consumer, commercial, healthcare, and foodservice markets. Pitt Plastics General Manager Aron Jahr said that Pittsburg and the surrounding areas in Crawford County have supported the company’s growth for more than five decades.

Cushioning is an essential part of protecting fragile goods from shock and vibration. That’s why for many decades, plastic foams have been used as a versatile and cost-effective solution. However plastic based foams are problematic. If they leak out to nature the material is inert and will not degrade. Furthermore, plastic foams are generally made from finite sources, mainly crude oil, which leads to a release of fossil carbon at its end of life. To turn these challenges into a thing of the past, Stora Enso has developed a lightweight, paper-based foam for protection and cushioning in packaging. Here are three key reasons why Papira® by Stora Enso is better than conventional plastic foams. 1. A bio-based product - Plastic foams used in cushioning today are mainly made of crude oil, resulting in a product with a high carbon footprint over its lifetime and other environmental issues. 2. Recyclable in the paper stream - Even though plastic foams such as expanded polystyrene or polyethylene foams are lightweight and handy, recycling them is difficult. Paper-based Papira® by Stora Enso is designed for recycling in paper or carton streams. 3. Biodegradable and compostable - As a material, Papira® is designed to be biodegradable. Therefore, it does not become waste or pollution even if not recycled properly.

Mondi will open its new state-of-the-art paper bags plant in Cartagena, Colombia in January 2021. It will be Mondi’s first operation in South America, reinforcing the group’s strength as a global paper bags supplier with a wide local footprint. The new plant will enable Mondi to improve and grow its services to better serve customers in the region. South America is home to more than 250 cement plants requiring up to two billion cement bags per year. Cartagena is a strong location for the new plant, set up in a free-trade zone with good access to ports in Panama, the east coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and other Caribbean ports. "Our global network already includes 39 plants across 22 countries. We are excited to be expanding our footprint to Colombia, helping us to provide innovative, sustainable and customer-focused paper packaging solutions to customers in South America who share our commitment to quality." Claudio Fedalto, Chief Operating Officer Paper Bags, Mondi