Sep. 22, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- KINGSEY FALLS, QC, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Cascades (CAS on the Toronto Stock Exchange), a leader in the recovery of recyclable materials and manufacturing of green packaging and paper products, today announced the acquisition of the Canadian assets of Sonoco Recycling, as well as the recovery assets of Yorkshire Paper Corporation through its subsidiary Metro Waste Paper Recovery. Both companies provide the retail sector with on-site collection services of recyclable materials, such as corrugated containers, paper and plastics.
"These acquisitions are in line with our strategic objective of growing our business in Canada and in the northeastern United States. These assets perfectly complement our existing infrastructure and will allow us to better serve the diversion needs of our retail customers and to deliver our Recovery ...Plus program coast to coast, incorporating quantifiable diversion methods to achieve zero-waste targets. In addition, the materials recovered will supply our Cascades' mills and other North American customers", commented Al Metauro, CEO of Metro Waste.
Yorkshire Paper Corporation operates in New England and in upstate New York. It annually collects close to 24,000 tonnes of recycled fibre. In 2008, Sonoco Recycling collected 190,000 tonnes of recycled fibre all across Canada.
Once completed, these transactions will enable Metro Waste to increase its collection capacity by 20%, which represents 1.4 M tonnes per year. This reaffirms the Company's position as the largest paper collector in Canada and amongst the leaders in North America.
Mario Plourde, President and COO of Cascades Specialty Products Group added: "Recycled fibres represent more than two-thirds of the raw material used by Cascades. The acquisitions will therefore help to further ensure a steady supply of raw material to Cascades' mills, while providing more room to grow in the development of environmentally sustainable products". Cascades' 19 recovery facilities supply more than half of the 2.2 million tons of recycled fibre used by Cascades' manufacturing mills.
Metro Waste Paper Recovery Inc., a member of the Cascades Group of companies, operates 17 recovery facilities across Canada and the Northeast United States. Metro Waste Paper Recovery provides services to the Industrial, Commercial, Institutional and Municipal sectors. Metro Waste Paper employs over 900 employees and markets over 1.2 million tons per year of secondary materials.
Founded in 1964, Cascades produces, converts and markets packaging and tissue products composed mainly of recycled fibres. Cascades employs close to 13,000 employees who work in more than 100 modern and flexible production units located in North America and Europe. Cascades' management philosophy, its 45 years of experience in recycling, its continued efforts in research and development are strengths which enable the company to create new products for its customers. The Cascades' shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CAS.
Certain statements in this release, including statements regarding future results and performance, are forward-looking statements (as such term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) based on current expectations. The accuracy of such statements is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including, but not limited to, the effect of general economic conditions, decreases in demand for the Company's products, increases in raw material costs, fluctuations in selling prices and adverse changes in general market and industry conditions and other factors listed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
SOURCE CASCADES INC.
