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Pratt opens MRF in South Carolina city

Pratt Industries, headquartered in Conyers, Georgia, has opened its latest material recovery facility (MRF) in Columbia, South Carolina. Pratt says the location will help address the recycling needs of Columbia and surrounding communities.

The plant will receive recovered fiber from commercial recycling programs. It can handle various grades of paper that will be used to supply Pratt’s 100 percent recycled mill in Conyers, Georgia.

In 2007, Pratt opened a facility in West Columbia, South Carolina, to service the Columbia area. The company says it has outgrown that location, necessitating moving to the new 40,000-square-foot facility at 120 Atlas Court in Columbia.

In addition to this recent investment, when appearing with President Trump at a World War II commemoration ceremony and then later on Fox News May 5, Anthony Pratt, Visy/Pratt Industries global chairman, said he was preparing to invest some $2 billion to expand his North American recycling, containerboard and box making operations.

Pratt Industries, the U.S. subsidiary of Visy/Pratt, started operating in the 1990s and runs four recycled-content containerboard mills and more than 15 recycling plants and 40 converting operations.

Recently, Pratt spent $260 million to build its fourth U.S. containerboard plant in Valparaiso, Indiana. Thus, a $2 billion investment could include more mills and recycling and converting sector expansions.

Cascades and Tricentris sign partnership agreement

Cascades, Kingsey Falls, Quebec, and Tricentris, Lachute, Quebec, have signed a three-year partnership agreement. As part of this deal, Tricentris will supply all of the old corrugated containers (OCC) recovered at its three sorting facilities in Lachute, Terrebonne and Gatineau to Cascades. The companies say this alliance is all the more important because of its benefits to the environment and local economy.

Throughout the next three years, Tricentris will transfer 75,000 metric tons of OCC it obtains and sorts from 1.9 million Quebec residents to Cascades to make the company’s products.

“By teaming up, Cascades and Tricentris are propelling the circular economy and proving that economic growth and the preservation of our natural resources can go hand in hand,” says Luc Langevin, president and chief operating officer, Cascades Specialty Products Group.