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Molded pulp plant planning upgrades, switch to natural gas

A $16.5-million upgrade is in the works for CKF Inc., an East Coast manufacturer of molded pulp and foam products. The project will include a conversion to use compressed natural gas, which is expected to save the company up to $1.8 million per…

A $16.5-million upgrade is in the works for CKF Inc., an East Coast manufacturer of molded pulp and foam products. The project will include a conversion to use compressed natural gas, which is expected to save the company up to $1.8 million per year.

The government of Nova Scotia is supporting CKF Inc.’s plan to purchase new machinery and upgrade equipment. The province will lend CKF Inc. up to $8.7 million for the company’s $16.5-million expansion, and provide $2.6 million in incentives, if the company completes the capital upgrades.

“These enhancements to our plant will re-energize our business, which is good for the company, but also for our workers and the community that have supported us for more than three generations,” said Michael Green, vice-president of finance at CKF. “New equipment and the use of compressed natural gas will allow us to be more competitive, and a cleaner, greener operation.”

Green told the local newspaper, The Hants Journal, that the company plans to add a fourth moulding machine to the plant, upgrade sorting equipment and tap into the high demand healthcare sector — all while operating in an increasingly environmentally-friendly manner.

CKF Inc. is a family-owned company that manufactures Royal Chinet and other molded pulp and foam products for retail, food service, and packaging industries in the Canadian and U.S. markets. The company has manufacturing facility in Hantsport, N.S., and operations in Ontario and B.C.

“With other facilities in Canada and markets across North America, CKF Inc. could have expanded their business somewhere else, yet they chose to keep growing here, meaning more good jobs for people in Hants and the Annapolis Valley,” said Hantsport Mayor Robbie Zwicker, also a CKF employee. “I’m really pleased that some of the new positions have already been filled by workers affected by the closure of Minas Basin Pulp and Power last year.”

CKF employs 260 people in Hantsport. It is a member of the Scotia Investments Limited group of companies, a Nova Scotia-based, family-owned private holding company that has diverse investments.