CMPC Celulose Riograndense wins international award

CMPC Celulose Riograndense, the Brazilian subsidiary of Chilean group CMPC, has received an award from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for its bleached eucalyptus kraft (BEK) expansion project concluded in May 2015, which included the installation of a new 1.3 million tonnes/yr line at its Guaíba site, in Rio Grande do Sul state.

PMI is known as the leading association in project management and is based in Pennsylvania, USA, having more than 700,000 members in 185 countries.
According to CMPC Celulose Riograndense, this was the first time a project from Latin America was chosen for the award, which aims to recognize projects that have potential to change the world and solve major problems in the society, leaving a long lasting impact. The company commented that its expansion project case was chosen by PMI as the mill was able to quadruple its output – from 450,000 tonnes/yr to 1.75 million tonnes/yr of BEK pulp – while dramatically reducing its environmental footprint.

Celulose Riograndense’s CEO, Walter Lídio Nunes, stated that industrial growth doesn’t need to increase pollution: “With the expansion we were able to reduce the mill’s water consumption by 60%, even producing four times more pulp. We are now also able to recycle 99.8% of our solid residues and reduce emissions.”
The company stated it disbursed Real 50 million ($15.3 million) to improve local roads and infrastructure, creating 11,000 direct jobs during the pulp mill construction and hiring a large amount of local suppliers, which enabled the injection of Real 2.3 billion in the local economy. Celulose Rio Grandense also provided more than 230,000 hours of qualification courses for 10,000 workers.
“With these courses we trained people not only to work in our project, but also for other opportunities available in our state and other parts of the country,” Nunes commented.