Amcor to build recycled paper mill in Australia

Amcor announced that it will build a new 345,000 tons per annum recycled paper mill at its plant in Botany, New South Wales. The mill will have a gross cost of more than $400 million.

“The new mill will significantly improve environmental impact. Recycled and bore water will be used in the production process with minimal use of town water for backup purposes,” said Mr Greg Beatty, managing director of Amcor Australia.

The new mill is expected to reduce water usage by 26%, energy use by 34% and waste to landfill by 75%.

The new facility will be built on a vacant section of Amcor’s Botany site, next to two of its existing paper mills. These two existing mills, plus Amcor’s paper mill at Fairfield, will be closed once the new facility becomes operational in 2010-2011.

There are currently 90 employees at the Fairfield site and 116 at Botany – about 3% of Amcor’s total workforce in Australia. Approximately 60 employees will be offered ongoing employment at Botany beyond 2010-11. Opportunities for deployment of some employees to other Amcor sites may also be available.

Amcor will ultimately sell the 16 hectare Fairfield site and approximately half of the 20 hectare Botany site. Both sites will be fully remediated by Amcor. The net cost of the new facility, after the receipt of proceeds from land sales will be $230 million.