Nippon Paper will build a $90 million waste paper recycling plant at Maryvale in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, creating about 140 construction jobs and 14 ongoing jobs.
Construction of the plant is expected to begin later this year, with production to start in early 2014.
The new recycling plant will be integrated with the existing paper mill of Nippon Paper subsidiary Australian Paper at Maryvale.
Australian Paper said the construction and ongoing operations of the recycling plant would contribute around $160 million in combined value to the economy.
The new plant will generate 50,000 tonnes of recycled pulp each year.
Australian Paper said the new plant would triple its usage of recycled fibre and enable the development of a new range of Australian-made recycled office, printing, envelope and stationery papers with the highest environmental credentials in the region.
“This will further differentiate our products from the imported paper out of Indonesia, China and Thailand that do not share the same local environmental, social and economic benefits as our Australian manufactured papers,” Australian Paper chief executive Jim Henneberry said in a statement .
The Australian government will provide a $9.5 million grant towards the $90 million recycling plant.
The recycling plant will divert more than 80,000 tonnes of white waste paper that would otherwise be destined for landfill each year.
