June 3 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's paper recycling company Paper Mill Kochani, owned by Bulgarian recycling group Unitrade Cluster, said it has restarted operations after installing a bag filter for air pollution control.
The emissions of harmful particles is up to 40 times lower than the recommended level after the installment of the 55,000 euro ($66,900) system, Paper Mill CEO, Julijan Daskalov, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Paper Mill suspended operations in January after the State Inspectorate for Environment ordered the company to stop using its pellet boiler and switch to natural gas due to excessive air pollution.
The company added on Wednesday that it expects to complete the construction of a 300,000 euro waste water treatment plant by the end of the year. It also plans to invest 2 million euro to double its paper recycling capacity in the following two years, which would require an increase of its headcount by 5-7%.
Founded in 1963, Paper Mill is the only factory for paper recycling in North Macedonia. The factory spreads over an area of 80,000 sq m and employs 120 people.
Unitrade Cluster acquired Paper Mill in 2016. The Bulgaria-based group comprises seven companies dealing with transportation, storage, pretreatment and recycling of plastic and nylon waste.
($ = 0.8218 euro)