When Cartiera di Bosco Marengo decided to merge with the Benfante Group to create ReLife Group, they opened the way for the next 100 years at this core board mill owned by the Ghigliotti family. The paper mill has long been known for technological evolution in the production of core board for manufacturers of spiral tubes, linear tubes, greyboard for cones, and edge protectors.

Important to Cartiera di Bosco Marengo was a partnership with Kadant Lamort to develop innovations in stock preparation and plastics recovery. Not only did the mill’s new continuous stock preparation system eliminate steps in the process and boost productivity, fiber quality and yield increased while energy consumption decreased. In addition, their Dryer Management System^® control system from Kadant Johnson improved steam utilization resulting in considerable savings in natural gas and greater flexibility in running the paper machine.

The combination of this 100% recycled furnish pulp and paper mill and the waste management company Benfante ushered in a “spherical” business model—not just circular. This means increased value from a more integrated supply chain.

• Value from maximizing fiber, which isn’t always ideal.
• Value from turning what was landfilled into a plastic raw material for resale.
• Value from enhancing the environment for Italians in Northern Italy and providing global products that are sustainable.

Not only does the pulp and paper mill receive OCC from Benfante, but together they are seeking ways to turn so-called contaminants—plastics—into a raw material they can sell.

“When you gain more from fiber while dramatically reducing waste going to landfill and turn plastic waste into a marketable asset, this is a winning idea,” says Alberto Ghigliotti, president of Cartiera di Bosco Marengo.

Enzo Scalia, managing director of Benfante Group adds, “Our multiple value streams are really spherical more than circular. We produce traditional and entirely new products while saving energy and environmental costs from start to finish. The sustainability gain is enormous.”

To help Cartiera di Bosco Marengo increase fiber yield and reduce contaminants, Kadant Lamort delivered a single continuous pulper, replacing two high-density batch pulpers, which eliminated a capacity bottleneck.

“Previous capacity was 300 metric tons per day. Now we can reach production as high as 400 metric tons per day from our paper machine. Contaminants don’t slow us down anymore, even from challenging OCC. Our improved pulper reject system gives us a higher yield of fiber and less waste to landfill,” says Mr. Ghigliotti.

When you think of waste as having value rather than valueless, everything changes in how you run a pulp and paper mill. To that end, Kadant Lamort has always pursued innovations in stock preparation system design to create more value and is proud to be a critical business partner in ReLife Group’s spherical model.

Marcello Giorgi is the Sales & Marketing Director at Kadant Lamort.