The Hindu Business Line : Nepa Mills revival boosts demand for old newspapers

Increasing demand
In last five months, 20,000 tonnes of old newspapers were sent to Nepa Mills through rail.
Nepa commenced production in April 1956 with an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum.
The company switched over to waste paper as basic raw material to reduce production cost.

Chennai , Sept. 26

If you have a large quantity of old newspapers do not just throw them away, but give them at a premium to hawkers. Reason, Nepa Mills in Madhya Pradesh is sourcing huge quantities of old newspapers from in-and-around Chennai.

Mr V. Subramaniam, one of the traders of old newspapers in Chennai, has won a tender to send about 3,000 tonnes of waste paper to Nepa Mill every month. He sources old newspapers from hawkers and wholesale waste paper shops.

Old newspapers

In the last five months, he had sent around 20,000 tonnes of old newspapers through rail to Nepa Mills, according to Southern Railway sources. For the first time, the zonal railway is handling old newspapers, which otherwise used to go by road, the source said.

According to Mr Subramaniam, hitherto, old newspapers were mainly used in fireworks manufactured at Sivakasi (units here also source from nearby districts) in southern Tamil Nadu or in retail stores for packing. But the revival of Nepa Mills has created a huge demand for old newspapers in and around the city, he said.

Nepa Mills tendered for a requirement of 6,000 tonnes of old newspapers every month. Mr Subramaniam supplies 3,000 tonnes by rail and the rest is sent through road by suppliers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Mumbai, he said.

`Big risk'

"Since Nepa Mills was under Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) we took a big risk in supplying the waste papers. However, Brigadier Surinder Kumar Mutreja, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Nepa Mills, convinced us to send the waste papers through rail to reduce cost of transportation," he said.

Nepa, which pioneered in manufacturing of newsprint in the country, commenced production in April 1956 with an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum. The main raw materials were Salai wood and bamboo, which were available in abundance in the forests around Nepanagar. The mill embarked upon major expansion programmes in 1967, 1978 and 1989 to increase its installed capacity to 88,000 TPA.

The company switched over to waste paper as basic raw material to reduce production cost. The in-house modifications/alterations to the pulping plants also helped in processing various quality of waste paper to manufacture newsprint, says information available in Nepa Mills' Web site.

More Stories on : Paper | rd & Newsprint | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page