Oji Fibre Solutions
Oji Fibre Solutions is a notable player in the pulp, paper, and packaging industry, operating as a subsidiary of Oji Holdings Corporation from Japan. Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, the company emerged in 2015 after Oji Holdings acquired Carter Holt Harvey Pulp and Paper Limited. Its operations extend across New Zealand and Australia, supplying a diverse array of products, including kraft pulp, linerboard, recycled medium liner, and chemicals for municipal water treatment.
With three pulp and paper mills located in New Zealand and additional facilities in Australia, Oji Fibre Solutions plays a significant role in various sectors, producing packaging solutions for industries such as dairy, meat, and beverages. The company emphasizes sustainability, sourcing its kraft fibre from managed pine plantations and obtaining certifications like the Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody for responsible material sourcing.
In addition to its manufacturing capabilities, Oji Fibre Solutions operates recycling services through its Fullcircle program, which collects and processes substantial quantities of paper and cardboard. The company has faced challenges in its recycling initiatives, notably with plastic bags, leading to public scrutiny and subsequent changes in recycling policies. Overall, Oji Fibre Solutions represents a blend of historical roots in New Zealand's forestry industry and modern commitments to sustainability.
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Oji Fibre Solutions
- Date founded: 2015
- Industry: Pulp and paper; chemicals manufacturing; packaging
- Corporate headquarters: Auckland, New Zealand
- Type: Private
Oji Fibre Solutions is a market pulp, paper and fibre producer and packaging manufacturer headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of the Tokyo-headquartered Oji Holdings Corporation, one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies. Oji Fibre Solutions was formed in 2015 following the 2014 sale of Carter Holt Harvey Pulp and Paper Limited of New Zealand to Oji Holdings and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. Oji Holdings is the largest shareholder of this joint venture.
Oji Fibre operates in Australia and New Zealand and supplies its products to markets in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South Africa and the United States. It produces bleached and unbleached kraft market pulp, fibre cement pulp, kraft linerboard and recycled medium liner to manufacturers of paper, tissue, corrugated cases, other industrial packaging, building boards and building products. It also produces chemicals, including hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine and sodium hypochlorite, for use in municipal water treatment, swimming pools and bleach manufacturing.
It manufactures fibre-based packaging for a variety of markets, such as cardboard products for the dairy, meat, beverage and other industries; multiwall paper bags for the dairy, cement, flour and sugar industries; specialty boards for heavy-duty packagers, such as game board, frozen and chilled products, and industrial and ring binder applications; and paper cups for quick-service restaurants, food chains, convenience stores and other out-of-home beverage and food retailers.
Most Oji Fibre facilities are located in New Zealand, with three pulp and paper mills at Kinleith, Penrose and Tasman, and manufacturing facilities in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Levin. It also operates Australian factories in Melbourne, Victoria; Sydney, New South Wales; and Yatala, Queensland. Sales and customer offices are located in New Zealand, Australia, China, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Oji Fibre recycles paper products in its paper mills through its Fullcircle waste collection business. Lodestar is its logistics operation business, which operates domestic distribution and international shipping and related services.
History
Although Oji Fibre Solutions dates only to the mid-2010s, both Carter Harvey Pulp and Oji Holdings have deep roots in New Zealand, and Oji Holdings has long been established in paper manufacturing in Japan.
Francis Carter, Alex Harvey and Robert Holt formed independent businesses in New Zealand in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. Carter and Holt founded sawmills and Harvey a tin-can manufacturing business. These businesses led to the formation of Carter Consolidated Limited, Alex Harvey Industries and Robert Holt and Sons in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971 the Carter and Holt companies merged and created Carter Holt Holdings. Fourteen years later, Carter Holt acquired Alex Harvey Industries and formed Carter Holt Harvey.
Carter Holt Harvey grew into a major supplier of forest products in New Zealand, Australia and beyond through a series of acquisitions and purchases. It acquired New Zealand Forest Products in 1991. International Paper acquired 50.1 per cent of Carter Holt Harvey in 1991–92, and Rank Group acquired 100 per cent ownership of Carter Holt Harvey in 2005–6. Carter Holt Harvey expanded through purchases and construction, especially in Australia. Purchases included Tenon's sawmill assets in 2005, twenty-one distribution stores between 2005 and 2008, a frame and truss plant in 2005, the Whangarei sawmill in 2006 and the Weyerhaeyser Australia timber manufacturing and distribution business in 2008. During the 2010s Carter Holt Harvey built a plywood mill in Myrtleford, Victoria, refurbished the Marsden Point lumber production facility in New Zealand and expanded the Mount Gambler Jubilee sawmill in South Australia.
Oji Holdings operations in Japan date back to 1873, when Shibusawa Eiichi founded the paper manufacturer Shoshi Kaisha, the forerunner of the Oji Paper Company Limited. A series of mergers in the 1930s and 1990s led to the formation of the present-day Oji Holdings Corporation, a leading global pulp and paper conglomerate. Oji Holdings' engagement in the pulp and paper industry of New Zealand dates to 1971, when it invested in the Pan Pac operations in Napier. In 2014 Oji Holdings purchased Carter Harvey Pulp and Paper Limited. The company changed its name to Oji Fibre Solutions the following year, based on a name chosen in an employee competition.
In 2024, Oji Fibre announced that it planned to close its Auckland pulp and paper recycling mill by the end of December that year. Shortly after, the company announced that it intended to halt paper processing at its Kinleith Mill facility, stating that manufacturing paper was no longer a profitable endeavor. This decision eliminated an estimated 230 jobs. Though the mill would continue operations, it would only produce kraft pulp.
Impact
Oji Fibre Solutions is committed to creating environmentally sustainable products. Its kraft fibre is sourced from plantation softwood radiata pine forests on the North Island of New Zealand, which are managed according to New Zealand laws to minimise environmental damage and protect their historical and cultural value. The Kinleith and Tasman mills hold Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody certification, which verifies they obtain raw materials from forests that have been managed responsibly and these materials remain separate from non-certified materials throughout processing, manufacturing and distribution.
New Zealand's paper mill at Penrose produces recycled fibres used for the manufacture of corrugated products. This material is sourced through the Fullcircle recycling service. Fullcircle annually collects over 250,000 tonnes of cardboard and paper in a variety of kerbside collections for processing at Oji Fibre's paper mills.
In 2016 the Wellington City Council revealed that none of the plastic bags collected through a municipal recycling collection programme between 2012 and early 2016 had been sent to recycling processing centres. When Oji Fibre was awarded the Wellington recycling contract in 2012, it stopped using the previous recycling contractors' method of recycling the bags and stored them while it sought a cost-effective recycling method. Unable to identify such a method, it sent the collected plastic bags to landfills. Oji Fibre's failure to recycle bags was discovered and made public when its contract came up for renewal in late 2015. The Wellington City Council addressed the controversy by removing plastic bags from its list of recyclable materials and urging people to reuse them rather than recycle them.
Bibliography
"A New Name for a Company with Strong Roots." Scoop Media, 2 Nov. 2015, www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1511/S00037/a-new-name-for-a-company-with-strong-roots.htm. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"Oji Expands Australian Footprint with New Corrugated Plant in QLD." Packaging News, 16 Nov. 2016, www.packagingnews.com.au/news/oji-expands-australian-footprint-with-new-corrugated-plant-in-qld. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Oji Fibre Solutions. www.ojifs.com. Accessed 7 Dec. 2017.
"Oji Fibre Solutions." Packaging Council of New Zealand, 2015, www.packaging.org.nz/page/167/oji-fibre-solutions. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"Oji Fibre Solutions: Packing a Punch." CEO Magazine, 21 Nov. 2016, www.theceomagazine.com/companies/oji-fibre-solutions. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"Oji Fibre Solutions to Permanently Close PM6 By End of June 2025, Affecting About 230 Employees; Mill Will Focus on Producing Only Kraft Pulp, and Company's Packaging Operations Would Move to a Paper Import Model." Industry Intelligence Inc., 19 Nov. 2024, www.industryintel.com/pulp-and-paper/news/oji-fibre-solutions-to-permanently-close-pm6-at-kinleith-mill-in-new-zealand-by-end-of-june-2025-affecting-about-230-employees-mill-will-focus-on-producing-only-kraft-pulp-and-company-s-packaging-operations-would-move-to-a-paper-import-model-166540889760#. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"Oji Fibre Solutions Unveils $30 Million Investment in Penrose Bag Plant in New Zealand." RISI, 3 Apr. 2017, technology.risiinfo.com/mills/asia-pacific/oji-fibre-solutions-unveils-30-million-investment-penrose-bag-plant-new-zealand. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.