Sustainable packaging giant with Georgia connections being sold to International Paper

Caption

DS Smith aims to change how consumers peel their beers, soft drinks and other beverages apart with its product called "Lift Up."

Credit: DS Smith

The world’s largest pulp and paper company is acquiring a British firm that has a North American headquarters in Atlanta and a paper mill on Georgia’s coast.

The pending sale of London-based DS Smith to Memphis-based International Paper still needs to be approved by antitrust regulators in the European Union.

But once it’s finalized, the $7 billion deal would give DS Smith’s large European presence and its growing portfolio of eco-friendly products to International Paper.

“We’re in 34 countries, so we’re a very large company,” said DS Smith’s business unit director, David McCracken. “We have about 1,700 employees in North America with our headquarters in Atlanta.”

Georgians, however, might be forgiven for not knowing about the giant in their midst or the sustainably innovative products coming out of their two U.S. paper mills, including one in Riceboro, between Savannah and Brunswick.

That’s because the company still is developing much of its eco-friendly packaging — and what’s already on the market is largely invisible to consumers.

“Some of the products are at the back of the stores,” McCracken said. “Things like having fresh fish delivered in a recyclable package to the grocery store rather than in a Styrofoam cooler.”

The company’s fish boxes, called Dry Pack, use the company’s signature technology, GreenCoat, a water-resistant coating that turns paper packaging into durable, moisture-resistant containers.

It’s essentially a paper box that water can’t sog.

Equally as impressive, though not yet launched in the U.S., is a product that aims to change how consumers peel their beers, soft drinks and other beverages apart.

“It replaces those rings that end up in a landfill,” McCracken said of Lift Up, a promising alternative to six-pack rings. “It’s also an issue in the ocean with wildlife getting tangled up in the in the rings. Our product is fully recyclable corrugated paper.”

DS Smith also produces many other products for shipping, e-commerce and retail.

The company has 12 paper mills in Europe and recently announced expansions in Hungary and Poland.

It’s unclear how International Paper’s acquisition would impact DS Smith’s operations or its approximately 450 employees in Atlanta.

But its large price tag suggests International Paper is very interested in European markets and innovation in the sustainable packaging arena.

“All the things that we’re doing I’m sure are very attractive to International Paper,” McCracken said.