Crofton
Located at tidewater on the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, Crofton is a world-class, integrated pulp and paper facility that produces newsprint, directory paper and market pulp for customers around the world.
 |
Our Division |
 |
|
|
Mechanical Paper |
|
|
|
Pulp |
|
|
|
Our Community |
|
|
Our Division
Crofton began operation in 1957 as a single-line kraft pulp mill. Today, three paper machines and two pulp machines have an annual capacity of 813,000 tonnes of product each year. Crofton's modern deep-sea port facility is a strategic gateway to the company's major markets in Western North America, Western Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Reflecting our company's commitment to innovative product development, Crofton is an industry leader in producing high-quality lightweight papers. These papers offer a unique benefit to customers by providing the same pressroom performance as higher basis weight competitive products. As a result, fewer resources are consumed, more surface area of paper is delivered per tonne and many economies are captured through reduced transportation, handling and storage costs.
Crofton is also home to Catalyst™ Directory, an industry-leading brand of directory paper that is recognized for its excellent performance at very low basis weights.
 |
|
Mechanical Paper
Crofton has a long-standing reputation for quality mechanical paper products with publishers and commercial printers and contributes to the company's overall industry position as one of North America's largest mechanical paper producers.
Crofton paper plays an important role in modern communication by providing the fundamental resource for newspapers, directories, flyers and inserts.
The division prides itself on its commitment to deliver quality products and technical support at a level that establishes Catalyst as the preferred supplier of its customers.
Crofton's advances in developing lighter basis weight papers have led a revolution in the marketplace as more and more newspaper publishers become aware of the environmental and performance advantages of these products. For these customers, that means better pressroom performance: newspapers print faster, with fewer breaks and less wasted paper. That's why our newsprint is used to print daily newspapers in major cities in North America, Asia and Latin America. Crofton's capacity is about 200,000 tonnes of newsprint annually.
Catalyst is one of the world's largest producer of directory paper, a product that has many end uses such as telephone books and other catalogues. As one of the company's first "branded" products, Catalyst™ Directory paper is produced on two paper machines at Crofton. Catalyst™ Directory is the preferred choice of major telecommunication companies or their designated printers who value its strength, light weight, opacity and brightness.
|
|
Pulp
Pulp is the building block of many familiar and important products in our daily lives. Whether it is in the writing paper we use to send a note, the coffee filter we use each morning or the paper towels in our kitchens, pulp is a central ingredient.
Crofton has a worldwide reputation for manufacturing custom pulps that serve a broad array of uses. The division's two chemical pulping lines produce northern bleached softwood kraft pulp (NBSK), a superior-grade pulp favoured for paper and tissue products.
By blending hemlock and fir, or cedar and interior whitewood chips, Crofton produces pulp grades that are designed to meet customers' specific needs.
Exact fibre selection, blending and bleaching in the chemical pulping process determine the pulp grade. For example, a fully bleached fine-fibred pulp blend has the strength, formation and softness sought by premium tissue producers. The same pulp is also used for its superior reinforcement properties in the production of lightweight coated paper for catalogues and magazines. The fully bleached fir-hemlock blend offers superior tear strength and bulk. It is also well suited for those paper grades demanding high porosity.
Most of Crofton's pulp is sold as market pulp in major markets, such as Europe, Asia and North America, while the remainder is used in our own paper-making processes.
We make our pulp and paper products almost entirely from residual wood fibre, waste wood from BC sawmills that was once consigned to landfills or burned.
|
|
Our Community
Today, Crofton has a modest population of 2,500, but it was home to one of Vancouver Island's largest populations in the early 1900s, when Henry Croft's copper smelter was the main attraction. The copper mine closed in 1908, but the town survived, and its deep-sea port made it a natural fit for the pulp and paper industry.
The area is rich in tourist attractions, including 80 totem poles, Canada's largest outdoor art gallery in Chemainus, and the natural beauty of the area's lakes, forests and hiking trails.
