Developing pulp mill to recycle biomass waste into degradable tableware in Pakistan
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The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development intends to partner with Ranipur Biomass Limited to develop a unique pulp facility in the Indus Delta in Southern Pakistan.
Ranipur Biomass has been founded by Ranipur Sugar Mills to convert its surplus bagasse, the dry pulpy waste left after juicing sugar cane, into pulp for producing biodegradable tableware and food packaging. The new facility will also pulp cotton stalks which are otherwise burnt.
The pulp mill will also generate renewable energy to power the sugar mill. The sugar factories generate power from its bagasse, which has a high calorific value. The renewable energy is used for around four months a year. However, for the other 8 months fuel oil is used at the facility. With the new pulp facility, the sugar operations can run 100% on renewable energy.
The project has been put forward by the World Wide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL) which manages together with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation the DFCD’s Origination Facility to develop new projects for the investment fund. With the approval of the grant, WWF has the intention to sign a €274,500 grant funding agreement with Ranipur Biomass Limited.
While neighboring countries have been using the circular model to produce degradable products from agricultural waste for many years, the mill would be the first pulp facility in Pakistan to produce degradable tableware from soft biomass. Existing mills are pulping wood to produce paper, paper bags and cardboard.
However, the company is not only in talks with potential buyers in Pakistan itself. It is also in talks with distributors in Dubai. There is a growing market demand for biodegradable products in the Gulf region.
In the next ten years, the company aims to process 396,000 tons of biomass and plans to sell 3,960 million pieces of biodegradable products.
The company cannot attract a local commercial loan to finance the mill’s €20 million construction costs. Local banks are reluctant to provide a loan because there is no precedent for financing a bagasse or other biomass pulp mill in Pakistan nor are they too familiar with climate impact financing.
In a first step, the DFCD intends to grant a €274,500 subsidy towards the company’s €1.4 million work plan to prepare for the construction of the plant by building a 3 to 5 ton biomass pilot facility.
Ranipur is a dynamic group of successful entrepreneurs who have experience in developing greenfield and brownfield projects in Pakistan, such as setting up a sugar mill and an ethanol distillery. The project has the support from the local Sindh government who actively wants the private sector to change practices.
Selling biodegradable products would reduce air pollution from smog in Pakistan by avoiding biomass is being burnt and trees being cut.
A 50 ton biomass pulp mill in Ranipur would generate economic activity in 400 villages of the Khairpur District, engaging 1,089 farm owners and employing 6,250 farmhands.
The project would economically benefit 495 full-time employees and indirectly benefit 7,869 people. The women of the farmhands would get an opportunity to become biomass collectors and sellers enabling them to earn extra income to support their households. Small farmers who are under the pressure of abandoning their farmlands would also be encourage to collect biomass for reselling to earn additional income.
The company is aiming to achieve the following impact targets during the next ten years:
"This is the first project of its kind in Pakistan, turning aricultural waste to biodegradle tableware and packaging. Existing pulp mills use wood, much of it collected illegally from natural forests. With scale this project will have a real climate impact.”
“After successfully pioneering ethanol production in Pakistan, Ranipur is pioneering value addition to bagasse which is primarily sold as a cheap by-product by 81 sugar mills. The biomass pulp mill willproduce export-quality products targeting the Gulf Countries where single-use plastic is being discouraged.”
For more information, Stuart Beavis, Regional Lead WWF DFCD Asia Pacific at sbeavis@wwf.org.hk.
In case you have any grievances in relation to this project of the DFCD’s Origination Facility, please contact us through our service desk at servicedesk@wwf.nl.
Ranipur will position itself as a major exporter of high quality finished goods and a pulp supplier for the local biodegradable product manufacturers. As a pulp producer and biodegradable product supplier in Pakistan, Ranipur would receive export orders from the distributors in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and other international markets. Ranipur is in contact with Dubai-based B2B and B2C distributors for securing off-take agreements.
By 2033, Pakistan is expected to generate enough demand for biodegradable products to allow mushrooming of local tableware manufacturers who would require steady supply of biomass pulp. Ranipur will then further enhance their pulping capacity and supply the biomass pulp to the local entrepreneurs in the country manufacturing single use biodegradable tableware and food packaging materials.
The DFCD enables private sector investment in projects aimed at climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made available € 160 million to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change. The DFCD is managed by a pioneering consortium of Climate Fund Managers (CFM), Worldwide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL) and SNV, led by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, FMO.
