Plasma

Plasma

The pioneering development of Plasma technology to recycle long-life cartons is an example of Klabin’s commitment to recycling and reduction of environmental impacts.

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As Brazil's biggest paper recycler, Klabin has an annual recycling capacity of 325 thousand tons of waste paper, producing 17% of the recycled paper used in Brazilian corrugated box production.

The results of this initiative are clear: reduced need for virgin fiber, less volume of urban waste, lower production costs. Besides this, income is generated for the entire recycling chain.

It is important to stress that there is a limit to the number of times fibers can be recycled, which is considered to be between 5 and 7 cycles. At each recycling they diminish in size, flexibility and bonding capacity, and consequently continuous production of virgin fibers is essential.

The paper recycled by Klabin is used mostly in its corrugated box plants.

Of the total amount of paper recycled by the company, 72 thousand tons come from its 9 box-converting plants. These are trims (waste) generated during the production process and which return to be recycled. However the biggest supply volume comes from the market, via wastepaper dealers (companies which sell OCC).

This process means an important social contribution, supplying work for thousands of curbside collectors throughout the country. This objective is reinforced by participation in Cempre (Corporate Commitment to Recycling), an association maintained by private companies from various sectors and dedicated to the promotion of recycling under the concept of integrated waste management. Cempre's activities seek to make society aware of the importance of reduction, reuse and recycling, backed by publications, technical studies, seminars and data banks.

Klabin is the first company in Latin America to have its entire production chain certified by the FSC - Forest Stewardship Council, attesting to the fact that forest management, paper making and corrugated box production are all performed sustainably. The manufacturing processes of the company's four recycling plants have also been certified: Goiana (PE), Guapimirim (RJ), Ponte Nova (MG) and Piracicaba (SP), the largest paper recycling plant in the country.

The Company makes a complete cycle of recycling:

Paper recycling is a sustainable practice and optimizes the consumption of natural resources, reduces the volume of landfills and also generates income. The stages of Klabin's industrial recycling process are:

  • 1) collection, selection and sale of waste paper;
  • 2) paper production: the waste is broken down in equipment known as a Hydrapulper, which, with the help of water, separates the fibers and transforms them into a homogeneous mixture which, after refining, is turned into paper reels;
  • 3) conversion of the paper into corrugated boxes;
  • 4) the trims and rejects from the box-production process and the market return to the recycled paper plants starting a fresh cycle.

Klabin is also one of the biggest recyclers in the world of packages of Tetra Pak, to whom it is an exclusive supplier in Brazil and the Mercosur. With an annual capacity of 28 thousand tons of long-life packages, this process is carried out at the Piracicaba plant in São Paulo where the packages are recycled with total recovery of the pulp fibers. The residue from this process - plastic and aluminum - is delivered to EET (Environmental Edge Technology), a recycling plant also in Piracicaba, which makes the separation of aluminum and polyethylene film possible, with the application of Plasma technology. The plant has a capacity to recover one ton of plastic and aluminum per hour - which is the equivalent of recycling 32 thousand tons of long-life packaging per year. The plant can produce around 6.4 thousand tons of paraffin and 1.6 thousand tons of aluminum.

Plasma Technology and a Commitment to Recycling

Participation in the pioneering development of Plasma technology for recycling long-life packages is an example of Klabin's commitment to recycling and the reduction of environmental impacts.

Result of a partnership between Klabin, Tetra Pak, Alcoa and TSL Ambiental, the EET Company was inaugurated in May 2005 to separate the aluminum and plastic which make up the packaging.

The use of Plasma technology in recycling long-life packages offers big benefits. From the environmental point-of-view, for example, industrial landfill waste is reduced, since 28 thousand tons of packages are now being recycled. From the social point-of-view on the other hand, the income of curbside collectors gets a boost, benefited by the added value of long-life packaging.
The concept and model of management practiced in the Plasma Project seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations. And the practical execution of the precepts of Sustainable Development, with economic, social and environmental results, producing more efficient processes, more jobs, better products and services, at the same time as it cuts down on the use of resources, waste generation and pollution throughout the entire chain. To develop the technology and install the plant, the companies invested more than R$ 13 million.

Get to know Klabin’s recycled products

 

Get to know Klabin’s recycled paper mills

  • Klabin is the biggest paper recycler in Brazil, with a recycling capacity of 325 thousand tons of paper per year, and recycling plants in Ponte Nova (MG), Guapimirim (RJ), Piracicaba (SP) and Goiana (PE).
  • The company uses approximately 60% recycled paper in its production of corrugated boxes. Of the 520 thousand tons of paper used annually for box manufacture, 210 thousand tons are virgin-fiber paper and 310 thousand tons are recycled paper.