HINOJOSA RECYCLED PACKAGING CIRCULAR ECONOMY

The project aims at upgrading, modernising and further enhancing the production of recycled cartonboard and recycled and renewable packaging boards in several production plants located in Spain and Portugal. Most of the production plants are located in less developed regions of EU27.

The project will support the production of recyclable packaging solutions from recycled pulp produced from collected, used cartonboard, and is consistent with the Promoter's overall strategic focus on sustainable and renewable packaging solutions and the circular economy. It will secure long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the Promoter in a growing market for sustainable packaging, and will enable innovation, knowledge and skills development in less developed regions of the EU. The investment will contribute to power and heat generation, higher energy efficiency and process optimisation in the Promoter's plants, and will thereby contribute to strengthening the European paper recycling value chain, with anticipated spillover effects in the local and regional economies.

This is a bio-economy project to be implemented mainly in cohesion areas in Spain, in support of local economy and aiming at upgrading, modernizing and further enhancing the productivity of recyclable paperboard production, as well as to business digitalization and reduction of GHG emissions through energy efficiency and green energy solutions (photovoltaic). Thereby, the project contributes to the EU Green Deal, the EU Bioeconomy, EU Plastics strategies and EU Circular Economy Package and is aligned with the Bank's Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability objectives. The project will contribute to counter strong market aggregation with concentration of bargaining power on a limited number of large integrated players in the packaging sector. It will further favour positive environmental outcomes related to the necessary substitution of mainstream fossil-based (i.e. plastics) packaging solutions by more sustainable, recyclable and renewable packaging production. In addition, the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions through enhanced renewable energy production capacity, thereby decreasing the effects of negative externalities of the packaging industry. The project's environmental, social, economic and cohesion benefits would not be achieved to the same extent without the Bank's support. The Bank's contribution to the project is supported by a combination of its additionality profile, including the loan's long tenor, flexible drawdown terms, funding diversification potential as well as potential to crowd-in other financiers, thereby facilitating the projects financing and full implementation.

The investment will deliver effective and sustainable solutions for combatting global problems such as environmentally persistent waste leakage by substituting fossil-based materials (e.g. plastics) with recycled and recyclable materials. This is in line with the EU Bioeconomy and Plastics strategies (incl. Single-use Plastics Directive), and with the EU Circular Economy Package. In addition, the upgrading and modernisation process is expected to reduce the environmental footprint of the operations while bringing an increase in resource efficiency. The project is aligned with the Paris Agreement, with the Bank's Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability objectives and will therefore contribute to the EU Green Deal. More details and confirmation of the eligible investments will be assessed during the appraisal. The environmental permitting and any elements of the project that may fall under the scope of Annex I of the EIA Directive 2014/52/EU (amending the EIA Directive 2011/92) and under the IED Regulation will be addressed during appraisal.

The Promoter has been assessed by the EIB as being a private company not being subject to EU rules on public procurement or concessions. However, if at the project appraisal, the EIB were to conclude that the Promoter is subject to the EU public procurement legislation then the Bank would require the Promoter to apply relevant applicable EU procurement rules.