Last April, SCA was announcing that the pandemic had jeopardized the activity of its Ortviken mill in Sundsvall (East coast of Sweden), producing pulp and publication paper with a capacity of 750 000 tonnes. Temporary layoffs had been negotiated with the local trade unions.
The Swedish sustaintech company Renewcell, a recycler of textile waste into a new raw material for making clothes, is now considering Ortviken industrial area as an option to build their new plant. Renewcell currently runs production at their first plant in Kristinehamn and are now planning to scale up production capacity.
The new plant would manage around 70 000 tons of discarded textile a year and would employ around 100 people with a potential for future expansion.
“We have to scale up our production rapidly to meet demand for our product from the fashion industry. Therefore, we are now evaluating Ortviken as an option for an investment in the range of 1 billion SEK to build a new larger recycling plant . We have not yet made a decision on where the plant will be located and the consultation we are now initiating is the first step of an in-depth evaluation,” says Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell.
“Since part of our process is based on traditional paper and pulp technology, much of what we need is already in place at Ortviken – good infrastructure, logistics solutions and a stable landlord. There are also very experienced personnel available in the region. This means that we could be up and running with production already in the first half of 2022 if the permission process runs smoothly.
“We are happy to be able to provide space and infrastructure for new operations in Ortviken, where we are now choose to discontinue the publication paper production,” says Ulf Larsson, CEO of SCA. “Ortviken is an industrial area with great qualities, both the infrastructure on the site but also the access to a unique transport infrastructure. We will make use of the great opportunities this industrial area provides, both for our own continued development as well as for other operations.”
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