Pioneering industrial water treatment plant in Serbia
Since acquiring the Belgrade paper mill in 2019, an important aspect of becoming part of Smurfit Kappa, was to meet the Group’s sustainability standards. One important commitment to sustainable water stewardship for Smurfit Kappa is that all its paper mills have a best practice water treatment in place. For Smurfit Kappa Belgrade this meant a €5 million investment in a state-of-the-art water treatment plant.
Serbia has only recently introduced a legislation for water pollution which mandates all industrial water users to invest in water treatment by 2025. Smurfit Kappa Belgrade opened its water treatment plant in September 2023, giving an example for the Serbian industry.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, said: “Today is an important day for environmental protection in Belgrade and throughout Serbia. This is a day that represents a turning point for the sustainable development of our country. Smurfit Kappa did this two years ahead of schedule by building the first industrial biological plant. This is an example of how all business people in Serbia should join the policy of sustainable development”.
The water treatment plant enables the mill to purify water to the highest standards before it can be returned to the environment. “The project was however not only about building the state-of-the-art water treatment plant,” explains Marko Andjelković, Production Process Engineer. “We started by optimising the water usage at the mill and will continue to do so now that the water treatment plant is running. We could see the improved water quality already in the third quarter of the year, the COD amounts in our effluent water had decreased by over 40% from the second quarter. The whole personnel at the mill is very proud to be part of such a project for a sustainable future. ”
The water treatment plant has three stages: first the water runs in a settler from where it will be directed to an anaerobic treatment after which an aerobic treatment finalises the cleaning of the water. Only after all these stages, can the water be released back to the river. Purified water can also be partially reused in the process, further reducing water consumption by up to 90%.
Smurfit Kappa's aim is to contribute to a world with sustainable water management, supporting the concept of circularity in water use. Learn more about our water commitments.