SCA Containerboard’s parent company, SCA Group (Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget) was formed in 1929 through a merger of ten Swedish forestry companies. Yet the roots of SCA Containerboard go back even further.
These firms produced mainly pulp and sawn timber. Since that time, SCA has greatly expanded and diversified, both geographically and in terms of products.
SCA was listed on the stock exchange in 1950 and during the following decade began producing and exporting newsprint. Kraftliner production started in 1960 and grew over the next fifteen years through acquisitions and the establishment of corrugated board plants.
Between 1975 and1999, publication paper operations expanded. In 1988 SCA took a decisive step into the world of recycled fibre with the acquisition of the Italian packaging company Italcarta, including its paper mill in Lucca, Italy.
SCA Containerboard was set up as a separate entity within SCA in 1990. This year also saw the acquisition of Reedpack along with two mills: New Hythe in the United Kingdom, and De Hoop in the Netherlands. In 1995 the SCA Containerboard headquarters was established in Brussels, Belgium. PWA was acquired in the same year, bringing with it two German mills: Aschaffenburg and Witzenhausen.
Legacy
Yet the roots of the company stretch back even further. The SCA Containerboard mill in Obbola, Sweden, was originally founded as a sawmill in 1889. It was rebuilt to manufacture pulp in 1913 and began producing kraftliner in 1975. Older still is the Aschaffenburg mill, which dates all the way back to 1874.
The oldest member of the SCA Containerboard family is De Hoop. It began life in 1657 as a water-powered paper mill in Eerbeek, a region in the Netherlands with plenty of flowing streams. At that time paper was made of recycled linen rags. De Hoop eventually replaced this fibre source with wood pulp. Ahead of its time, the facility was using recycled paper fibre as early as the 1920s.
Of course, each SCA Containerboard site has its own story to tell. And because the containerboard industry is so dynamic, new chapters are being added year by year. The history of containerboard and paper may be very old, but today’s containerboard world is moving very fast indeed.