Construction on the $500 million mill in Botany, Sydney, began in 2011, creating 800 jobs during the build and 150 ongoing positions.

The mill centres on the only machine of its kind in Australia, a 330-metre long line that produces 1.6km of paper every minute.

The B9 machine, manufactured by Finnish group Metso, will produce 400,000 tonnes of paper per year, in reels that weigh up to 47 tonnes.

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It was officially opened by Premier O’Farrell last Friday 1 February.

He said: “The NSW Government understands that a modern manufacturing industry is crucial to a strong economy.”

Amcor Australasia managing director Nigel Garrard talked up the B9’s environmental credentials. “This state-of-the-art recycled paper machine replaces three older machines aged between 43-52 years, reducing water consumption by 26%, energy usage by 34% and the amount of waste sent to landfill by 75%.”

Amcor’s first paper mill was established in 1868 in Melbourne by Samuel Ramsden.

[Related: More NSW news]

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