June 29, 2021
Hope still for new use for Kawerau mill
A Kawerau union leader still hopes a new use can be found for the mill – and the remaining workforce.
The last newsprint making machine shut down yesterday, ending almost 70 years of production on the site.
Tane Philips from the Pulp and Paper Workers Union says at its peak the mill had over 2000 workers, but by the end, there were just 160, with an average age of 52.
He says the closure is a blow to Kawerau, but he lives in hope.
"That site is huge. There is interest in the site with the direct rail line to the port, with the geothermal energy. There is thought of some green alternative products coming from out of there so I live in hope there will be more employment than there is now, with luck and investment," Mr Phillips says.
There are still wood processing and pulp companies working from the site.
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