Bioeconomy

With innovation and ingenuity, we are making our mills eco-effective worldwide — reducing waste, emissions and maximising material and resource use at every opportunity. At Ehingen mill in Germany, we achieved a big eco-effective ‘win’ in 2019 by substantially increasing the amount of pulp we produce at the mill instead of purchasing it on the market.

In November 2019, we announced our intention to make investments totalling up to ZAR14 billion over the next six years in our South African operations.

Project Vulindlela is our multi-billion-rand expansion project to boost Saiccor Mill’s dissolving pulp (DP) capacity by 110,000 tons per annum. The project has significant benefits for people, the planet and prosperity in South Africa.

The South African energy sector is heavily dependent on coal and 150 years of intensive coal mining have produced about a billion tons of discarded thermal-grade coal fines. These can potentially cause environmental and health problems.

At Sappi, we're cultivating more value and purpose from every tree. Together with our partners in South Africa, we're building a thriving world by unlocking the power of renewable resources. 

Sappi ReFibre, Sappi Southern Africa’s secondary fibre division, sources used paper products from an extensive network of agents across the Southern African region as well as from waste producers.

Climate change is here to stay and the search is on for sources of renewable energy. This is where the 25 MW Ngodwana Energy biomass power plant at Ngodwana Mill comes in.

In South Africa, we’re using our leveraging our novel Xylex technology – acquired in 2017 – to progress the extraction of sugars from woodfibre to produce xylitol and furfural.