This is in addition to its existing 50% stake in Italmaceri, which it bought as part of the acquisition of SCA Packaging in 2012.
Italmaceri is the second largest recycling company in Italy, handling in excess of 500,000 tonnes of recovered fibre per annum.
Miles Roberts, chief executive of DS Smith, said the purchase was part of the company’s recycling strategy.
“It builds on our market leading position in Europe and will allow us to grow our closed loop recycling model in Italy, where we already have packaging and paper operations. We want to provide our customers not only with excellent packaging, and a world class recycling service, but solutions to all elements of their Supply Cycle.”
The Italian recovered fibre market is the fourth largest in Europe, but has a recycling rate of 63.3%, lower than the European average of 71.7%.
This offers potential for DS Smith to target and grow volumes through the commercial / industrial (including retail, wholesale and manufacturing) and municipal markets.
The company will be building on existing market and geographic presence to roll out to a wider base.
Peter McGuinness, chief executive of DS Smith, recycling division, said: “The recovered fibre from Italmaceri will secure a fibre supply stream for our recycling network, including the DS Smith paper mill at Lucca.”
DS Smith is one of the largest fibre recyclers in Europe, recovering over 5.4 million tonnes of paper and packaging annually for recycling. Recovered packaging (and other fibre grades) provide the raw materials used in production by the group’s paper making operations.
