DS Smith has invested more than €50 million euros in its packaging facilities in Portugal in response to a growing demand for sustainable fibre-based packaging solutions.
The investment, which has taken place over the last three years, underline our company-wide commitment to strategic priorities around innovation, sustainability, and circularity, with a key focus on optimizing service capabilities for customers in the Iberian region.
The investments are intended to streamline the upgrading of technology and renewable energy solutions. These include the acquisition of two top-of-the-range fluting machines for our packaging facilities in Oporto and Leiria packaging facilities, and we have upgraded a corrugator unit for optimal performance at our packaging facility in Lisbon with the installation of a 2,800mm (approximately 9.19 ft) wide Dry End.
We have also invested in a large processing machine that is specifically intended for the heavy-duty marketplace and for corrugated cardboard solutions that are robust enough to transport heavy, large, or bulky products for industrial and agricultural sectors.
DS Smith customers in the e-commerce sector are benefitting from the upgrading of machinery to produce padded paper envelopes, and designers have innovated a sustainable fibre-based alternative solution to plastic-based bubble-wrap.
Other investments have been made in renewable energy in Iberia, and we have commissioned the installation of solar panels at our packaging facilities in Esmoriz, Leiria and Lisbon to produce electricity for our own consumption. These measures are anticipated to reduce CO2 emissions by 34% a year.
The DS Smith Packaging Division in Portugal has six factories that are in Guilhabreu, Esmoriz, Águeda, Carregal do Sal, Leiria and Lisbon, and ?a logistics centre in Madeira.
We also have two recycling mills in Oporto and Figueira da Foz and a kraft paper mill in Viana do Castelo. In 2023, €145 million euros we invested in Viana do Castelo as a part of a multi-year development programme.