February 3, 2015
Our commitment to sustainability can be seen as an investment in the future, which is why we’re spending $70 million in our Palatka, Florida, paper mill. The money will be used to upgrade the mill’s evaporators, a key component in generating energy to operate the mill. At first glance, new evaporators might not sound impressive, but they’ll reduce energy costs by an estimated $1 million per month and water usage by more than 30 percent.
This is just the latest in almost $100 million spent to enhance the mill’s safety, quality, sustainability and productivity.
Palatka mill manager Kevin Curry stresses the strategic importance of the expense. “We continue to make ongoing investments in the mill to help reduce our overall environmental impact and improve our cost competitiveness. This latest investment helps accomplish both of those goals, and earning it is a great accomplishment for our entire Palatka team,” he said.
This new project is in addition to an approximately $19 million investment announced last year for the installation of product quality improvement equipment in the mill’s kraft paper area. Installation of that project is currently underway. The mill also has approximately $10 million slated for safety and environmental improvement projects.