Pratt Industries declares $2 billion fresh investments in the US

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Conyers, Georgia-based Pratt Industries has pledged to make investment of over $2 billion in the US facilities over the next ten years. The announcement was made by the company’s Global Chairman Anthony Pratt in presence of the US President Donald Trump at the event held recently to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. The investment will be utilized towards expansion of recycling, containerboard and box making operations of the company in North America.

Speaking at the function, Anthony Pratt stated that the company has tremendous faith in President Trump. America has become the world’s greatest place to manufacture, he added. This has prompted the company to double its rate of investment. The proposed investment will create additional 5,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs, mainly in the Midwest. The Australian businessman received a standing ovation from the US President. The meeting was also attended by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Pratt Industries has been carrying out considerable expansions to its recycling facilities. The company had recently added a new material recovery facility (MRF) in Columbia, South Carolina to its stream of recycling facilities across the US. The huge rise in recycling needs had forced the company to move the original West Columbia, SC facility into the new 40,000 square-foot facility located at 120 Atlas Court. Announcing the opening of the new facility, Pratt Recycling President Myles Cohen had predicted creation of more number of green collar jobs and tremendous market opportunities.

Recently, the company had invested $60 million in opening a new corrugated box facility in Beloit, Wisconsin. The investment promises to bring around 140 manufacturing jobs to the Beloit area. The grand opening of the 350,000 square-foot box factory was held during end-March this year. According to sources, the facility is expected to have a production capacity of nearly 600 tons of recycled boxes per day.

Pratt Industries has been fast expanding its operations by building new and acquiring principal facilities across the US. Last year, it had acquired Albert Lea-based Minnesota Corrugated Box (MCB) for a sum of $70 million. The company had unveiled its fourth 100% recycled paper mill in Valparaiso, Indiana during the previous year. The $260 million, 250,000-square-foot recycled paper mill is considered to be the most modern in the world. Also, the company had recently announced installation of 1.4-MW rooftop solar plant at its box plant in Staten Island, New York.

Established in 1987, Pratt Industries is America's fifth largest corrugated packaging company and the world's largest, privately-held 100% recycled paper and packaging company, with more than 6000 highly-skilled, green-collar employees dedicated to the environment and sustainability. The company produces 1.15 million tons of recycled-content paper each year.

RISI forecasts tremendous growth to paper based packaging on account of rise in e-commerce transactions and growing environmental concerns around plastic packaging. The projected market growth is likely to boost demand for Pratt’s 100% recycled corrugated boxes. As per RISI estimates, worldwide containerboard and kraft paper demand are expected to register cumulative growth of over 16% during 2011-’18. Also, boxboard demand is expected to grow around 4% during this period.