From smoke to sustainability: Rai Paper gets a green makeover

 Webuye Pan Paper. [File, Standard]

Anyone passing near the former Webuye Pan Paper, now Rai Paper, along the Eldoret–Webuye–Bungoma Road, would once have been greeted by three unmistakable sensations: the acrid smell of chemicals, the deafening noise of machinery, and thick smoke billowing from its chimneys.

This was before the factory’s collapse around 2009, when the familiar white smoke faded and the machines fell silent.

The pungent odour, caused primarily by sulfur dioxide, was a critical component in both pulping and bleaching processes, breaking down wood chips into pulp while ensuring the paper’s characteristic whiteness and brightness.

The noise, meanwhile, emanated from the mechanical pulp mill, where high-energy machinery ground logs or wood chips into fibres.

New reality

Today, however, the scene has changed dramatically. Technological advancements have shifted production from timber-based processes to the recycling of waste paper.

The absence of smoke, noise, and smell has led many, particularly residents and politicians from Bungoma County and the wider Western region, to assume that the company—once a symbol of local pride—was as good as extinct, with the Rai Group of Companies having failed in its revival efforts.

Yet, a recent visit to the factory reveals a different story: the facility is very much alive, now producing brown paper products from recycled waste paper. The reality is not immediately apparent; only a tour inside unveils the quiet hum of activity. Upon entering, the factory is relatively silent, except near the boiler, where the hiss of steam provides the only audible indication of the industrial process underway. One area contains vast piles of brown and white waste paper, arranged meticulously for processing.

Here, the general manager, Rukmani Arivudainambi, who joined the factory in 2022, explains operations.

Arivudainambi brings experience from one of the world’s largest paper mills in India, where he oversaw production of approximately 600,000 units per day, equating to roughly 1,700 tons.

“The factory there is producing 600,000, that is 0.6 million per day, approximately it comes around 1,700 tons,” says Nambi as we move around the factory.

He adds: “The mill is one of the largest in a single location globally and, like this one, is not wood-based but bagasse-based. Bagasse is what remains after sugarcane juice is extracted.”

He explains that environmentally, it is advantageous as only around 30 per cent timber is used, with 60 per cent bagasse.

Raw advantage

Rai Group ownership of West Kenya and Naitiri sugar factories ensures easy access to bagasse. In India, bagasse is valuable, and in Kenya, it is sold at Sh15 per kilogramme.

“We buy bagasse from the sugar mills, make pulp, then paper. Most major Indian paper manufacturers primarily use bagasse,” says Arivudainambi.

Arivudainambi, a mechanical engineer with 38 years’ experience in paper manufacturing, explains that bagasse serves multiple functions.

Beyond pulp production, it fuels boilers that generate steam to dry paper, and can even be used to produce electricity, which the factory exports to Kenya Power. Production now averages 80–85 metric tons of brown paper per day, equating to roughly 2,200–2,300 tons monthly, or 27,000 tons annually.

“We are collecting waste paper from a variety of locations, including container boxes and discarded office paper. During pulping, foreign materials such as stones and plastics are removed, after which the mixture is heated and turned into pulp,” Arivudainambi explains.

He adds; “The pulp is then run through the paper machine to produce large reels of brown paper, which are sold domestically in Nairobi and exported to Tanzania and Uganda.”

The facility handles approximately 2,500 to 3,500 tons of waste paper monthly, consuming roughly 100 tons daily.

Financial Controller Balasubramanian Ramasamy details the factory’s revival. Initially established in 1974 with four paper machines, two fell into disuse after the collapse.

““In 2017, one of the paper machines (PM4) was successfully rehabilitated in 2022 after we took over, having been idle for 10 to 15 years. It produces 50 metric tons of brown paper per day. So now we are producing 2,500 metric tons per month of Kraft liner, white top test liner, and bleached bag Kraft, which are commonly used for one- and two-kilo flour packaging bags,” says Ramasamy.

The factory also features a de-inking facility, unique in Kenya, which removes printing ink from waste paper to produce clean pulp for new paper products, enabling recycling of school text and exercise books. All machines now produce 100 per cent recycled, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper.

Tours show large stacks of brown and white shredded paper from printing shops. White paper is used for the top layer in white-top test liner, with brown forming the base. Trucks wait at the factory entrance, loaded with brown paper reels via forklifts.

Most waste paper is sourced from Nairobi, supplemented by youth collection initiatives in Bungoma and neighbouring counties, creating over 2,000 indirect jobs.

“Actually, we even allow boda boda riders, youth, and women to collect paper in their villages, then take them to selected centres or bring them here. It is weighed and they are paid. We have also created over 2,000 indirect jobs in the process,” says Ramasamy.

He added that the factory pays Sh20 per kilo for white waste paper and Sh14 for brown.

He blames Kenya’s failure to ban waste paper exports for shortages, unlike Uganda. “While Uganda bans exports, it sells paper here, and trucks return with Kenyan waste paper—double disadvantage to us,” he says.

The financial controller says demand for white Kraft liner is high, but imports make local production commercially unviable. Tanzania’s duty remission on paper imports also restricts export opportunities. Ramasamy urges the government to raise import duties from 25 per cent to between 35 and 45 per cent to protect local industry.

The financial controller explained that there is demand for white Kraft liner paper, but imports from abroad make its production commercially unviable.

“There is a need for the government to intervene by imposing high import duties to protect local industries from cheap imports. The duty is currently 25 per cent; it should be increased to between 35 and 45 per cent,” said Ramasamy.

He added: “We have to import pulp for this product before producing it. If import duties were increased, local production would become viable.” He further noted that Tanzania supports its paper manufacturing sector with duty remission, making it difficult for Kenya to export there.

“In 2022, we were supplying around 8,000 tons, in 2023 about 5,000 tons, and now there is nothing we are exporting because duty remission on test liner and Kraft liner has made imported papers cheaper,” he explained.

Green benefits

Arivudainambi noted that since bagasse is a renewable resource, using it as boiler fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions and decreases dependence on non-renewable energy sources such as oil, coal, or natural gas. When the Rai Group took over the factory, the government had already put a ban on logging, forcing the company to consider using waste paper.

Between 2018 and 2023, the financial controller said the company spent Sh2.3 billion on purchasing waste paper, Sh1.5 billion on power expenses to Kenya Power, Sh373 million on raw materials, and other expenses, totalling Sh6.1 billion. In 2022, the factory earned US$7 million (Sh904 million) in foreign revenue.

The factory now provides employment to 540 local workers. Speaking after Industrialisation Principal Secretary Juma Mukhwana handed over a cheque of Sh229 million to former workers, investor Jaswant Rai said: “Among the ex-employees, I will take one family member from each family. I am committed to restoring stability across Kenya’s agro-industrial value chains.”

Ramasamy called for improved waste collection strategies, supporting plans by county governments to establish Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), which would make segregation easier and create income sources, instead of the current practice of mixing and burning waste. Kenya ranks poorly, fifth globally, with only 32 per cent waste collection compared to Europe at 70 per cent.