Page 8 - Packaging News magazine March_April 2023

NEWS
Opal’s $140m cardboard plant on track
Opal corrugated cardboard plant: Stage one of construction nears completion.
OPAL SAYS THAT its $140 million high-tech corrugated card- board packaging facility is on track to be completed and oper- ational by October 2023, with capacity to produce 400 tonnes of finished corrugated boxes daily.
The facility is being developed in two stages. Stage one has included the construction of the highly automated manufacturing site, with a total footprint of approxi- mately 55,000 square metres, with the equipment installation phase due to commence in April.
The site will receive more than 260 containers of equipment, most sourced from Germany, with some from France, Denmark and China.
The site opening in October will mark the end of stage one, with stage two seeing the extension of
the facility’s supply capacity to meet growth in demand.
Chris Daly, executive general manager, Opal Packaging, told PKN, “We expect to be running at full capacity soon after the facility is operating. Once running at capacity, the facility will be able to produce up to 720,000 square metres of packaging board per day, which is equivalent to almost 400 tonnes of finished corrugated boxes.”
Daly said Opal’s strategic invest- ment in Wodonga was driven by market demand for superior, Australian-made recyclable pack- aging, with Wodonga centrally located to service the Eastern seaboard.
The facility will use kraft and recycled packaging paper sourced from Opal’s Maryvale Mill in the Latrobe Valley and its Botany Mill in
Sydney. It will produce corrugated cardboard packaging to supply a range of fresh produce, food pro- cessing, FMCG and manufacturing industries across the country.
The company says sustainabil- ity is a core component of the site’s design and will include water har- vesting capability and solar power to leverage the facility’s 41,000m2 of roof area.
“Opal’s Wodonga corrugated cardboard facility will enable us to increase our production, cre- ate new regional jobs and grow our customer base,” Daly said.
He says Opal is committed to supporting regional jobs and once it is operating, the facility is expected to support more than 400 Victorian jobs, including direct and flow-on. ■
recyclable or compostable. He said, “The launch of rPET will con- tribute to our packaging targets further by significantly reducing the amount of virgin plastic we use as a business in line with the APCO packaging targets.”
Carolina Arango, group man- ager – Environment at Bega, said, “Bega Group is delighted to invest in nature-based solution projects that provide environ- mental and community benefits to Australia as well as reduce car- bon emissions. Squeezing instead of crushing our orange, apple and pear fruit to preserve the peels and re-use that as local animal feed, as well as committing to making our 1.5L bottles out of 100 per cent recycled and recyclable plastic are features of our products that are proudly Carbon Neutral.”
Bega Group says The Juice Brothers’ Climate Active Certification for the 1.5L range is part of the pathway to achieve its goal of reducing its carbon emis- sions by 40 per cent in 2030, to net zero in 2050, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. ■
Bega rolls out rPET bottles
MAKING STRIDES ON its sustainabil- ity path, iconic Australian food and drinks manufacturer Bega Group is rolling out nation- ally a 100 per cent recycled plastic bottle for its impulse milk beverage range, while its PIDA- nominated product The Juice Brothers has achieved Carbon Neutral Certification.
The rPET bottle is for Bega’s flavoured milk and ice coffee prod- ucts under 1L, which the company says will be fully converted to the 100 per cent rPET packaging by September this year. Brands in
the first phase of the rPET roll- out are Dare Iced Coffee, Big M, and Dairy Farmers Classic, with Farmers Union Iced Coffee tran- sitioning from May and Masters from July 2023.
The 100 per cent rPET bot- tles can be recycled repeatedly, although this does not apply to the cap and label.
It is not Bega’s first foray into rPET. Its juice range branded The Juice Brothers, packaged in 1.5L rPET bottles, is already available on shelf, and has now achieved Carbon Neutral certifi-
cation. According to Bega, this means that the brand has an “ambitious carbon reduc- tion program” and is offset- ting the carbon emitted in the
Left: New to shelf in rPET – Dare, BigM and Dairy Farmers Classic.
production of its 1.5L juice prod- ucts with 100 per cent Australian Carbon Credit Units. This Carbon Neutral certification is awarded by Climate Active in conjunction with the Australian government.
The Juice Brothers’ 100 per cent recycled and recyclable plastic bottles is a finalist in the ‘Sustainable Packaging Design of the Year’ category at this year’s Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards, with winners to be announced on 28 March.
Bega Group’s packaging sus- tainability goals, embodied in its ‘Planet Pledge’ sees a commit- ment to having approximately 50 per cent of its products use recy- cled materials and 100 per cent of products being either reus- able, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
According to Darryn Wallace, executive GM of Bega Dairy and Drinks, 82.5 per cent of Bega’s packaging is already reusable,
8 ❙ MARCH – APRIL 2023
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