Boyer drops native forest from paper mix

LOCAL Greens parliamentarian Tim Morris MHA has congratulated papermaker Norske Skog for its major re-investment in the Boyer newsprint mill which ensures that its paper will now be produced using plantation pine and recycled fibre instead of native forests. Mr Morris said the new machinery at Boyer would also modernise and improve the competitive position of the mill at a time when there had been a reduction in demand for newsprint.

“The Greens welcome the softwood conversion project at Boyer which improves the mills’ competitive position, reduces effluent volume by 25% per tonne of paper, reduces CO2 emissions and also means that there will no longer be any native forest used in newspaper manufacture in Tasmania,” Mr Morris said. “Just as the Greens encouraged the  Boyer mill to end the use of old growth wood over 20 years ago, we have done the same with ending the use of native forest wood since then and are very pleased to see this come to reality today.”

“This does not mean an end to all issues we have with the mill but we thank Norske for their excellent level of communication over the issues of concern to many in our community, and we will continue to engage with them over the issues of chemical use in their plantations, and maximising rail for transport,”  Mr Morris said.

“The Boyer mill provides valuable jobs for Tasmania and the Derwent Valley, and this investment provides extra job security for those workers in an increasingly competitive marketplace.The conversion of the old cold caustic soda pulp mill to thermo-mechanical means that native forests will no longer be needed to make paper at Boyer and will potentially allow Norske Skog to seek Forest Stewardship Council certification in the future,” Mr Morris said.