Nexus Charcoal Packaging Procedures
Nexus Charcoal (PTY) Ltd is committed to the Namibian environmental act “to promote the sustainable management of the environment and the se of natural resources by establishing principles for decision making matters affecting the environment”. Our charcoal is made from encroacher bush that is threat for Namibia’s rangelands. Bush encroachment has increased significantly in Namibia over past decades, largely because of vegetation change and overgrazing. It is estimated that more than 26 million hectares of Namibian rangelands and savannah have been degraded by encroacher bush. The removal of encroaching bush from the Namibian rangelands would not only be regarded as an attempt to restore the savannah and its biodiversity, but it would also be advantageous to the subsurface water resources of affected areas.
Encroacher bush still plays an important role in the biodiversity of the rangelands and can’t be totally eradicated. Nexus Charcoal is also an active member of the Namibian Charcoal Association, and we abide by the Namibian Forestry act. Therefore our harvesting farms and producers are carefully selected to ensure we abide to the guidelines and objectives of the De-bushing Advisory Service in order to restore our natural habitat. Our charcoal is made entirely of Namibian hardwood acacia species, mainly Acacia Mellifera, Acacia reficiens, Terminalia pruprunioides and Colophospermum mopane. The charcoal is produced on-site on the farm and weathered for a minimum of 2 weeks before it is packed into bulk bags and delivered to our processing plant here in Outjo.
Charcoal delivered to our premises here in Outjo first gets inspected to ensure the charcoal is cooled down and dry with a moister content of less than 5%. Once the charcoal is passed, it is offloaded into our bins to get screened and graded.
Our screening process entails a sifting process with a vibration sieve and different sizes and grades are packed not bulk 1-ton bags for further storage. The screened charcoal is then stored in a separate warehouse and weathered for at least 21 days before further handling.
Our charcoal is weathered for at least 21 days in bulk 1-ton bags after screening before the bagging process is started. Our plant includes an automatic packaging system to cater for both paper bags and polypropylene bags, in weight and sizes as requested by our clients.
The bulk bags are emptied into bins that feeds our automatic bagging machine. The automatic bagging machines are pre-set with our customer’s weight requirements. We only pack in new laminated polypropylene bags or new paper bags. Once the charcoal packed and checked to ensure they the correct weight, the bags are palletized and wrapped. The wrapped pallets are then stored in our despatch warehouse and ready to be loaded in containers.
