The $4.5 million will be invested at Catalyst Port Alberni to expand the mill’s production capacity for food packaging papers. Traditionally, this mill produced printing and writing grades; however, demand for these products has been in steady decline. Transitioning to food grade papers means meeting growing market demand, providing sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic serving containers, and advancing BC’s circular economy. 

Stora Enso’s Langerbrugge site currently has two paper lines in production, one for newsprint and one for supercalendared (SC) magazine paper. The feasibility study will focus on the conversion of the site’s newsprint paper line. The conversion would enable Stora Enso to further grow its recycled and recyclable packaging materials capacity and to meet the growing demand in end-use segments such as industrials, e-commerce, furniture and electronics.

After two years of record results driven by a surge in volumes, capacity constraints, and port delays, the container shipping industry is starting to show the first signs of weakening. With consumers shifting their spending patterns, rampant global inflation, and fears of a looming recession, signs point to the coming normalization of the market that industry executives have been alluding to in recent months.