Pan Africa Paper Mills suffers a blow

Last Updated 15 years ago by Kenya Engineer

The Webuye based industry was reopened by the president Mwai Kibaki in August 2010. It has since continued to face a myriad of problems ranging from, insufficient funding, tighter environmental regulations, court cases, management squabbles and frequent staff turnover as well as high energy prices. At the time of reopening, the company owed Kenya power and Lighting upto Ksh100 million in unpaid bills.

In spite of the government efforts to resuscitate the dilapidated factory through treasury allocations, the company still faces an eminent closure due to unpaid power bills. The government has so far spent Ksh 1.6 billion to revive the factory. The company is embroiled in a legal tussle with the receivers appointed by short term lenders; Ecobank, Bank of Baroda and Barclay moving to assert authority. This is against the backdrop of revival team led by the industrialization permanent secretary Karanja Kibicho.

The mill’s demand for wood has turned the area barren and the company trucks now had to travel for many miles to get the all-important raw material, trees. A major cause of concern of the district is the effluents from the major industries namely Pan Paper Mills at Webuye and E.A. Heavy Chemicals which have degraded the environment of the surrounding areas, due to improper management of industrial waste. These effluents are usually discharged into Nzoia River and the surrounding atmosphere, hence polluting water and air, killing fish in Nzoia and Lwakhakha Rivers. People from as far as Kakamega town attest that they could smell the foul orduor emitted to the air by the mills especially early in the morning and late in the evening.

Paper usage continues to generate a global debate on how sustainable can we exploit the world natural resources. Major problems related to paper usage ranges from pollution of the environment, deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions among others. The paper industry is considered as the fourth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions which has been a major crisis for the whole world.

Paper is made from pulp which is gotten from wood in forest. Trees hold 50per cent of the world’s terrestrial carbon and so cutting down of these trees for the mills leads to deforestation further promoting carbon emmisions.Some areas in Kenya such as Webuye used to be heavily forested as it formed part of the Kagamena Indigenous Forest. But following the setting up of a pulp mill in the area, the area has now turned barren. Chemicals produced during pulping can also envelope in a foul smelling air. Acid fumes and fly ash result in the corrosion of the corrugated iron roofs of the houses in the vicinity of the mill. The mill’s solid waste when dumped on fields as manure can lead to decline in local agricultural production.

Littering of papers also is a major problem especially in the cities. According to records, 25per cent of landfill waste is from paper. This has resulted to further destruction of the green vegetation. In as much as these companies would want to expand and grow more in business, use of trees in paper making is resulting to be a risk to the planet and its habitats. The companies are thus forced to turn to alternatives other than trees. Luckily, for them some alternatives have already been discovered like the bagasse.

Bagasse is a waste product from sugarcane. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Kenya’s main environmental body has licensed paper making from bagasse, a move that experts have welcomed. This is expected to reduce illegal logging, reverse deforestation and help slow the effects of climate change. The use of bagasse will further reduce pollution to the environment by bagasse which will now be used rather than be dumped.

Considering that we are living in a digital world, computers are further reducing the need for papers. Digital storage medias are used to save information that would rather have been written on bulk paper. A lot can be saved in a single computer replacing a whole room of paper files.

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