Mill CEO urging big business to switch to NZ-made cardboard

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Much of the packaging used in this country is imported from countries like China, Korea, Finland and Chile.
Photo: Pixabay

The head of Whakatāne’s paper mill is urging big brands to cut their reliance on cardboard imports.

Currently much of the packaging used in New Zealand originates in countries like China, Korea, Finland and Chile.

Whakatane Mill Ltd (WML) chief executive Ian Halliday has begun to promote the economic and environmental benefits of buying local.

He hoped companies like DB Breweries, McDonalds, and Griffins would take more advantage of the New Zealand-made product available.

“We would like them to use more obviously. By and large a lot of the end products are actually imported,” Halliday said.

“We are working with them – we could work directly or indirectly but generally we prefer to consult with them directly to get them to encourage the converters to use our product.”

As the sole folding box board producer in Australasia, WML provides the raw ingredient for packaging converters to make into the end-use products they sell.

“So the brand owners determine whose paper is used in their particular end products.

“DB Breweries will be the packaging for the beer packs that go into the bottle stores, Griffins would be the biscuits. McDonalds is typically for the fries, the clam shells, the Happy Meals. That’s our board but it’s converted by big converters like Opal, WestRock, Graphic Packaging and so on.”

Meanwhile, a multi-millon dollar investment at the paper mill marked its most significant capital expenditure in 20 years.

The mill was close to closing in 2021 but has recovered to secure its future as one of the biggest employers in the Bay of Plenty.

Halliday said the $70 million upgrade would increase production of cardboard used for packaging in a variety of industries.

He said there was plenty of shareholder support from the consortium of European and New Zealand investors who took over the mill from its former owners SIG Combibloc just over two years ago.

“As the largest private employer in Whakatāne, with an 80-year history of exporting, this moment is a significant step towards a bright, positive, and sustainable future for WML,” Halliday said.

Full production will be achieved by November with state of the art equipment imported from Finland, Germany, and Italy.

The upgrade delivers an additional 50,000 tonnes of premium folding box boards, increasing WML’s production from 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes.