The demand for cardboard is increasing worldwide, so Stora Enso is converting another paper machine in Oulu to cardboard. The one billion euro investment brings jobs, but increases concern for Finland’s forests.
Stora Enso decided to invest about one billion euros in converting the decommissioned paper machine at the Oulu mill into a large-scale consumer packaging board line.
The new cardboard machine produces folding cardboard and coated unbleached cardboard, which are eventually sold on, for example, to produce food packaging. Oulu’s cardboard machine will be the largest of its kind in Europe.
In this story, we tell you what the investment means from the perspective of Oulu, Finnish nature and ordinary consumers.
1. More jobs
The investment will bring about 300 new jobs to the Oulu factory alone, for example in process work, support functions and maintenance. The opening of a new cardboard production line will indirectly employ around 1,500 people. Jobs will be created in, for example, wood cutting, as well as forest management and logistics services.
Production is estimated to start in early 2025. When the investment is realized, it is estimated that the traffic volumes of rail and road traffic will double, which also partly causes a need for labor.
2. The use of wood increases and more forests are cut down
According to Stora Enso, the new cardboard machine will increase the use of wood at the factory by about one million cubic meters per year. Calculated in timber trucks, it is more than 20,000 full trailer combined trees.
If more and more wood is needed in the future, it will directly affect, for example, the threat of species and eventually the complete disappearance of some species.
– Currently, 76 percent of our forest habitats are endangered. We currently have 833 species that are endangered due to forestry measures, says Suominen.
Suominen clarifies that at some point there will be a situation where there is simply not as much wood in the forests as is needed.
– We may not be there in the next few years, but in a few dozen years we will already be at that point. So we are talking about really dramatic things.
According to Suominen, the most important thing that consumers can do to support the preservation of forests is to reduce consumption altogether.
3. The growth of online shopping increases the consumption of cardboard
Converting a paper machine to cardboard production is profitable, first of all, because the demand for paper is constantly decreasing. The demand for cardboard has been on the rise for a long time.
The increase in demand is influenced, for example, by the popularity of online shopping – products are ordered online from all over the world directly to your doorstep. This requires packing the goods already for transport and storage.
– This is what we have always strived for and it supports the growth strategy of the group’s renewable packaging, states Härkönen.
According to a study conducted by Posti earlier in the summer, the growth of online shopping has only continued after the corona pandemic. Consumers also increase their purchases even more in the hope of free delivery.
4. Will cardboard replace plastic packaging?
– A good third of the things to be packed are things that can be packed in many ways, and then there are many options. However, there are packages where plastic has a clear advantage. So not necessarily all plastic will be replaced in this world.
He lists three important reasons why cardboard is an interesting material in terms of sustainability.
– It is made from a renewable raw material, which means that practically no oil, coal or any other fossil is used in its production. Second, it’s recyclable, and it really is. And thirdly, cardboard products are mainly biodegradable.
The production of any industrial product is not zero-impact, reminds Harlin. In his opinion, using an old paper machine in cardboard production is an environmentally friendly investment.
– Making such an investment is very sensible, because it does not actually take new natural resources into use, but allocates the existing ones to something else that is more sustainable, sums up Harlin.
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