Below is some of the latest information from: Arjowiggins; Iggesund; James Cropper PLC; Portals Paper; Smurfit Kappa; and Sonoco.
ARJOWIGGINS – Ghost IV
Ghost IV is a process of authentication with a special pen used for banknote verification. If there is a clear reaction, the paper is genuine. If the reaction is dark, it means the paper has been counterfeited.
This feature offers several advantages:
• Verification is made with a dedicated pen, commercially available and affordable
• The result is instantly visible but disappears in approximatively 4 hours
• When the document is not genuine, the stain remains visible and cannot be removed, which prevents the recirculating of vouchers for instance
EcoVadis assesses companies' sustainability achievements and has performed more than 65,000 assessments in over 200 sectors in 160 countries.
In 2020 EcoVadis revised their medal thresholds and introduced a new medal - the EcoVadis Platinum Medal, designed specifically to reward the highest scoring companies in the EcoVadis network. The Platinum level, which the Workington Mill in United Kingdom has reached, includes the top one percent of all rated companies. Earlier this summer, Iggesund’s other mill in Iggesund, Sweden, was awarded the Platinum level.
“To us, this is a prestigious confirmation that both of our mills have a robust structure in our work with sustainability. Even more important is what it means to our customers; apart from excellent product quality, they can rely on the fact that the products are surrounded by sustainability measures that match the product quality” says Johan Granås, Head of Sustainability at Iggesund Paperboard.
The Workington Mill is to more than 90 percent running on bioenergy. Apart from supplying the board production with green energy, the mill also delivers green electricity to the National Grid. But even with state-of-the-art equipment the mill aims higher.
“No matter how modern your machinery is, the final decisions are always made by people. We have started to introduce environmentally motivated objectives for operators, which depend on working closely together as a team to understand the effects of their actions on the rest of the process. As an example, we have been able to reduce the steam and electricity consumption per tonne by ten percent over the last years ”, says Lorna Casson, Environmental Engineer at the Workington mill.
“I’m both impressed by, and proud of the innovative actions we have taken in both mills, motivated by the fight against climate change”, Johan Granås concludes.
Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group Holmen, a group that several times in the last decade has been listed as one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies on different sustainability indices. All Holmen Mills have been awarded Platinum.
JAMES CROPPER PLC – Rydal Packaging Collection
High value and luxury products are expected to look beautiful, be functional, and also be environmentally and socially responsible. It is important for consumers to know that these values extend throughout the supply chain.
The Rydal collection includes three shades of white and three shades of black.
• White is one of the key elements of any palette and is also the perfect canvas for creative expression
• Black is a classic colour, recognised as stylish and timeless, and James Cropper are internationally renowned as expert creators of Black papers
Whether you are looking for a pure white fresh fibre paper from responsible forestry sources, a recycled quality to meet the legislative requirements for USA retail bags, or even want to go 100% recycled, then we have a product designed for your project…be it a luxury bag, tube, garment tag, folding or rigid box, the Rydal collection includes 40% and 100% recycled and 100% fresh fibre options all engineered with attributes suited specifically to the end use.
The recycled qualities in the Rydal collection contain PCW (post-consumer waste) including our innovative CupCyclingTM fibre, sourced from used coffee cups. This unique post-consumer fibre stream is giving a second life to a valuable resource whilst helping to solve a troubling problem for society – designed with circular economy principles at the core.
PORTALS PAPER – Upgraded PM1
During our 300 year history, we have been a leader of security feature integration, developing the first windowed threads with the Bank of England in the 1980s.
The need for greater security continues to grow and evolve and in recent years we have seen an exponential growth in the demand for wider security threads to combat the counterfeiting threat seen by our customers.
With this market driven need, we made the decision to invest in upgrading the capability of one of the three large paper machines at our Overton Mill, meaning that we now have four highly capable paper machines in the UK.
Despite challenges arising from the Covid pandemic, this week the newly upgraded ‘PM1’ successfully produced its first banknote paper since being switched off in late 2019. This is a major step towards completion of this complex project and the first customer order is expected to roll off the line before the end of September.
The programme has seen the replacement of the majority of the papermachine including the latest, state-of-the-art technology to optimise quality and performance. The introduction of an advanced quality control system has brought improved real-time data with online quality control check points, with a new state of the art vision system checking that our paper meets our customers technical and visual requirements. The wealth of information from these new technologies offers even greater control, less variability and quality assurance that is second to none.
The project is the largest investment in a £21m programme focussed on transforming the efficiency, quality and sustainability of our business.
The investment is testament to the fact that the process of paper making remains at the heart of our business. With a heritage dating back over 300 years, we continue to invest in driving the quality and future of security paper forward.
Ross Holliday, Portals’ CEO commented: “Following a major rebuild of PM1, I am delighted to see our first banknote paper being produced. Two years ago we embarked on an investment journey that has seen us transform our business and ensure that we are able to improve performance for our customers and partners around the globe. This project comes after successful investments already commissioned in our pulp mill and finishing operations. I am extremely proud of what Portals has achieved in the past two years and would like to recognise the Portals team and our partners who have been involved in this project and who have made it happen in a safe and socially distanced way. I look forward to welcoming our customers at a later stage to the grand unveiling.”
SMURFIT KAPPA - BanaBag
Smurfit Kappa has extended its range of sustainable and biodegradable products for the agricultural sector with the launch of BanaBag®.
BanaBag® is an innovative and sustainable product created by Smurfit Kappa to address the quality assurance needed for excellent bagging during the complete growth cycle of the banana plant. It is a unique solution for organic producers because it protects the fruit from disease and insects, whilst also reducing the overheating that can result from using other materials like plastic.
The BanaBag® is made from cellulose which acts as a natural insulator to the growing bananas maintaining the quality of the product even in higher temperatures.
In addition to advantages in the farming process, BanaBag® is the right choice for banana producers that are supplying international markets where consumers are demanding sustainable products with traceable production processes and supply chains. The BanaBag® is 100% paper-based, making it renewable, recyclable and biodegradable and importantly, it can be used as compost for the soil.
Laurent Sellier, Chief Operating Officer of Smurfit Kappa Europe Paper and Board, commented: “At Smurfit Kappa, we are committed to innovation and the development of paper-based sustainable products that support our customers in the improvement of their processes and products. With a continuing drive to make a positive impact on the agricultural sector with innovative solutions like BanaBag®, we aim to positively contribute to better outcomes for farmers who are moving towards more sustainable methods.”
Juan Guillermo Castaneda, CEO of Smurfit Kappa The Americas added: “Some of the largest banana exporters in the world are in South and Central America where we operate. Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are on the list of the 10 countries that export more than 80% of the world´s bananas, mainly to European markets. This challenges producers to continuously adapt to the fast paced trends of consumers who want to be reassured that the products they buy and consume are sustainable.”
These trends have led the organic banana sector to implement environmentally friendly processes in their plantations, without sacrificing quality and efficiency throughout all stages of the fruit´s growth.
“Our job is to carefully handle the fruit in the production process so that it arrives in the best possible condition at its final destination – whether international or local,” says Louis Hesselholt, Manager of Dominique Banana in Santa Marta, Colombia. “BanaBag® perfectly matches the needs of our plantation by reinforcing the organic characteristics of our export product and contributing to our goal of eliminating 100% of all contaminant plastic waste from our farms.”
The use of non-sustainable materials in Dominique Banana´s production process was a huge challenge for the company, because of their difficult recycling process and the problems of land pollution. Additionally, because the plastic bunch bag commonly overheated the fruit, this contributed to lost produce. By implementing the Smurfit Kappa BanaBag® in the Campo Alegre and Granja plantations, the fruit´s quality increased, post-harvest recycling processes were optimised and the soil was fertilised since BanaBag® is compostable.
Smurfit Kappa has a number of sustainable products for the agricultural sector including AgroPaper for eco-friendly mulching in crop growing, the SoFru corrugated pack for berries, and Safe and Green biodegradable trays for fresh fruit.
SONOCO
In September 2020, Sonoco Stainland UK, in collaboration with SAEL, have successfully installed a complete machine drive and DCS control system across the wet-end section of its Board Machine. The investment completes the first phase of the Mills wet-end rebuild and capacity expansion project, the final phase of which will be installed in December 2020. Phase 2 will include the installation of a new stock approach system in conjunction with a new forming section. SAEL will once again provide the machine control DCS upgrade and new MCC inverter equipment.
SONOCO’s decision to appoint SAEL to change the drive and automation system was driven by the objective of consolidating equipment and control philosophy across the process. Sonoco’s Management Team of Phil Woolley and Massimo Basta stated that Sael’s belief of “giving the customer the ONE and only solution for all their challenges” was a key driver in the selection process. The ONE solution not only saves time and money but also provides the most up to date and revolutionary technology existing in the market.
Scope of the project was to supply new cabinets for the AC drive and the reuse of the existing Allen Bradley Drive on dry part; using the reference speed management via an AB PLC in file safe. On the wet part of paper Machine, SAEL installed Platform ONE drives in conjunction with a DCS Scalink to optimally manage the machine and to reduce the costs of spare parts, faults and substitution timing. With Platform ONE drives, SONOCO will have the possibility to keep just ONE electronic card as a spare part. The old electrical cabinets will be completely removed, creating a new long life, completely digital drive and automation system to last.
Included with the new DCS Scalink are two 22-inch screens installed in 2 different engineering stations -with redundancy system integrated- inside the mill. In addition, new control desks have been installed along the board machine, which provide a completely new prospect and dynamic to the machine Operators and who now have the possibility to control the entire process, from stock approach to the Pope reel.
In the future, it will also be possible to integrate other PLC control loops within the DCS Scalink which will present the opportunity to fully integrate stock preparation, vacuum and steam system controls etc. In this way, we will be able to provide the possibility to gather and control site wide information via one system and ultimately deliver the ability to optimise performance across the entire process.
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