Feds invest $13.8M in Kruger biomass and paper projects

Kruger Inc. is receiving a $13.8 million investment from the federal government for biomass and recycled paper projects in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Brompton, Quebec, respectively.

The funding, administered through the Strategic Innovation Fund, will support Kruger’s investment of over $27.5 million.

At its Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Mill, the company will install a new system to dry low-quality biomass, usually sent to landfills, and use it to produce energy for the plant, thus limiting the use of fossil fuels it needs to operate.

At its specialty papers mill in Brompton, Que., Kruger will implement a state-of-the-art facility to produce first-of-its-kind, biodegradable, 100 per cent recycled paper approved for direct food contact that restaurants could use—for example, to wrap hamburgers.

This project will help to create and maintain 743 jobs, and it will create 176 new co-op positions in post-secondary institutions. In a release, the government states it will also facilitate access to new markets, reduce waste sent to landfills and reduce water use by 50 per cent. Because of the investment, Kruger will avoid burning 48,000 barrels of oil each year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 tons annually.

“These investments will have a positive, long-term impact in terms of providing opportunities for future development in growing markets, consolidating hundreds of existing jobs while creating new ones, and reducing our carbon footprint very significantly,” says Stéphane Lamoureux, vice-president, operations, publication papers and specialty papers, Kruger Inc., in the release. “We’re very proud to be investing in Canada’s circular economy.”