Enstra Mill
Sappi Enstra Mill is situated in Gauteng near the town of Springs in South Africa. The mill celebrated its 76th year of existence in 2012 having been established in 1936, producing its first paper in 1938 from Paper Machine 1 (PM1).
Enstra produces office paper, security paper and packaging paper products of superior quality for use in different industries.
The mill is a business unit of Sappi Paper and Paper Packaging; a division of Sappi Limited and promotes three key sustainability focus areas when doing business; People, Planet and Prosperity.
Our people
Our highly technical processes require Enstra Mill to employ highly skilled employees. Our 500 employees have expertise in the areas of papermaking, different engineering disciplines, artisans in different fields, accountants, information technology, business administration and human resource specialists. Sappi is an equal opportunity employer.
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Uncoated woodfree and business paper |
200,000 |
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Our products
We are committed to being the paper and paper packaging company of choice.
We continually work together with our customers in order to understand their fast-changing needs; whilst at the same time ensuring that we practice sustainable manufacturing practices in order to continue being kind to the environment. Our flagship product Typek office paper now carries the earthkind logo as a symbol of our commitment to the environment.
Our sophisticated product development team also offers total security solutions to local and international security printing industries such as passports, identity documents, certificates, cheque and ballot papers. We are the only manufactures of security paper in Africa. We also offer security paper products to the packaging industry.
Our range of printing and writing papers is wood free, acid free and elemental chlorine-free;
- 'Woodfree' is a term used to describe paper, which is manufactured from chemical pulp and which, is free from wood particles. It is made from wood fibre, ensuring stronger surface strength and making it suitable for recycling. Due to their better colour and strength, woodfree or fine papers are considered to be superior to ‘wood-containing’ papers such as those created by mechanical pulping.
- 'Acid free' paper is produced by using an alkaline, rather than an acid, sizing process (sizing refers to the rate of ink and water absorption into the paper). Alkaline based papers are produced in a more environmentally friendly manner than papers using the acid sizing process.
- 'Elemental chlorine-free' refers to bleaching processes in which no elemental chlorine is used.
Enstra Mill products are produced from wood grown in well managed local commercial plantations owned and managed by Sappi Forests in Southern Africa. This gives our products a competitive edge both in local and global markets, where environmental considerations are focused not only on processes, but also on raw materials.
Our range of uncoated packaging, graphic and business paper is available across the range of weights 38 – 350g/m²; and caters to the business forms, scholastics office, envelope, general printing and packaging industries.
Our milestones
Enstra Mill's long history of firsts highlights the skill, talent and entrepreneurial spirit of Sappi's people and underpins the mill's drive for technological advancement - evident in our ongoing, strategic investment in state-of-the-art technology. This combination of strengths has resulted in the mill becoming one of the most productive paper mills in the world.
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2011 |
- Pulp plant decommissioned
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2007 |
- Mill commences commercial production of registered watermark paper for passports
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2002 |
- Second A4 cutting line comes on stream and boosts capacity. Conversion of softwood line to also bleach hardwood pulp is completed.
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2001 |
- Mill achieves ISO 14001 certification.
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1999 |
- First paper mill in the world to use Trespathane as a glossy moisture barrier on A4/A3 ream wrappers, improving packaging and quality.
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1997 |
- First paper mill in South Africa to install a fully automated paper testing unit ('Autoline'), improving quality.
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1996 |
- Major expansion of PM6 to increase annual capacity from 73,000 to 118,000 tons per year of paper, resulting in improved production efficiency and product quality.
- First pulp plant in South Africa to treat bleaching effluent in an activated sludge plant, improving effluent.
- First paper mill in South Africa to install a film size press on a paper machine, improving quality and effluent.
- First paper mill in South Africa to install a dilution profiling headbox, improving quality.
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1995 |
- First paper mill in South Africa to replace waxy ketons in the wet-end sizing process, improving quality and effluent.
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1993 |
- Mill achieves ISO 9002 certification.
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1992 |
- The installation of an enzyme starch conversion plant further improves paper quality, resulting in easier, smoother printing.
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1990 |
- The mill's papermaking process is converted from acid to alkaline, resulting in stronger, whiter paper produced in a more environmentally-friendly manner.
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1984 |
- Production at Enstra Mill is now focused on uncoated fine paper as newsprint and kraft paper machines are installed at Sappi's Ngodwana Mill.
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1980 |
- The mill is now producing approximately 140,000 tons per year of paper and board.
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1978 |
- First pulp plant in South Africa to convert from a sulphur-based pulp digesting process to a caustic soda based process.
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1977 |
- The first commercial production of security papers.
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1975 |
- Pulping and bleaching expansion is completed.
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1970 |
Enstra Mill gains an international reputation with the development and patenting of the ‘Sapoxal’ oxygen bleaching process - a world first. This process lays the foundation for the development of elemental chlorine-free pulp, used in making white paper. First industrial plant in South Africa to use dissolved air flotation (DAF) in treating sewage water from municipal sewerage works.
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1964 |
- Facilities are upgraded to increase newsprint production from 36,000 to 70,000 tons per year.
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1961 |
- Start-up of PM6; the mill begins newsprint production.
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1960 |
- Start-up of PM5; the mill expands with the installation of facilities for the production of board for industrial purposes.
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1952 |
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1951 |
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1948 |
- The mill switches from wheat straw as a basic raw material to wood pulp and simultaneously doubles start-up capacity.
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1939 |
- First fully integrated pulp plant in a paper mill in South Africa.
- First pulp mill in South Africa to use the patented ‘Pomilio’ process in pulping wheat straw.
- Start-up of PM2.
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Our environment
At Enstra Mill, we recognise that responsible management of natural resources, linked with social responsibility and sound economic performance, is a prerequisite for sustainable development. The mill has achieved Chain-of-Custody certification from the SGS Group.
We are committed to environmentally friendly products and processes and there is a constant drive for continual improvement in the management of our impact on water, land and air. We use recognised management systems to monitor our progress.
Managing water and reducing effluent
Throughout our history we have focused on reducing water consumption and effluent levels.
- The patented ‘sapoxal’ oxygen pulp bleaching process has had a significant impact on the amount of effluent generated, reducing levels by as much as 70%, while the activated sludge plant has improved the quality of effluent.
- Effluent from the mill after filtering and cleaning is discharged into the Blesbokspruit, which feeds into the Blesbokspruit Ramsar site, incorporating the Grootvaly Wetland bird sanctuaries in South Africa. The fact that this is a Ramsar site is an indication of its environmental significance. The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar (Iran), in 1971, is an inter-governmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands. The quality of water in the Blesbokspruit is regularly monitored by Rand Water and the Department of Water Affairs.
Minimising our impact on land
Our solid waste site is managed in accordance with the permit issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs.
Reducing air emissions
The mill generates its own steam for the paper machines. In 2011, an investment of R10 million was spent to install a precipitator unit for the boiler process to reduce the dust emissions below 75mg/Nm3. The investment has positively impacted the environment with the emission rates averaging around 25mg/Nm3.
Minimising waste stream
Our focus is on process optimisation and waste minimisation projects such as the recycling of effluent and recovering raw materials. More than 76 years of producing paper have equipped Enstra Mill with a wealth of experience, expertise and levels of technology to ensure consistent and superior quality products; as demonstrated by our ISO 9001 certificates for quality assurance management systems.
Quality is controlled by a combination of state-of-the-art control equipment, raw material inspection and product testing to ensure there is no deviation from specification.
We are committed to a lean manufacturing strategy and to constant benchmarking against competitors and international best practice to ensure standards are maintained. This is facilitated by Sappi’s international network of technology centres, which undertake technical and process optimisation research for all of the group’s mills.
We have a comprehensive health and safety programme that is aimed at ensuring the safety of our employees, contractors, suppliers and visitors. Our safety programme focuses on awareness, changing behaviour; prevention and reporting of near misses and incidents in order to learn from them. Our visitors and contractors are also familiarised with our safety procedures during a compulsory induction process before they go to the plant.
Our well-established Employee Wellbeing (EWB) programme aims to create awareness on a number of health and wellbeing topics; as well as assisting employees to deal with these challenges. This includes our comprehensive HIV awareness and treatment programme. This includes counselling and antiretroviral treatment for HIV positive employees. We also conduct surveys to establish the rate of infection in the mill to help us improve our strategies of fighting the virus.
Occupational health is also a top priority, and tests such as noise-induced hearing and lung function tests are regularly conducted, as well as a regular industrial hygiene surveys.
Our certification
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2002 |
ISO 9001 |
Quality management |
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2002 |
ISO 18001 |
Safety and health management |
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2001 |
ISO 14001 |
Environmental management |
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1993 |
ISO 9002 |
Old quality management |
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Our community
Sappi Enstra assists local communities through a number of initiatives. We also train people from the community as part of a process trainee programme. We support community libraries in the Ekurhuleni area with annual book donations, including community libraries in KwaThema, Duduza, Tsakane and Springs. In addition, we have also donated paper to local schools.
We support community based organisations that look after the vulnerable members of the community, including Hosanna in Bakerton, Chance Children’s home, Katleho KaTshepo and the Far East Rand Hospital’s children’s ward.
We also support small entrepreneurial development initiatives through the Springs Business Linkage Centre.
On the environmental front, we have supported the Blesbokspruit Forum, an environmental educational centre and a number of local schools with trees for their Arbor Day projects.