Details were released today (January 4) of the grant to UPM Shotton, based in North Wales, which is to spend a total of £17 million on the materials recycling facility (MRF) to sort commingled material.
The move will help Shotton to secure enough newspapers for the plant as UK production of newspapers falls and domestic competition grows for the material, partly because of the completion of the Palm Newsprint mill in Norfolk (see letsrecyle.com story).
The MRF will be built adjacent to the recovered paper warehouse which makes it logistically very efficient.
David Ingham, general manager, UPM Shotton
Shotton already has experience of sorting material for the mill. It currently has four sorting lines run by external contractors for mixed papers but the move into commingled material is something completely new to Shotton and the UPM group as a whole.
The Finnish-owned business has revealed that construction of the 200,000 tonnes-a-year capacity MRF will start this month for completion in January 2011. And, it said that this will create an additional 160 new jobs at the mill site largely because the MRF will operate 24 hours a day through the year.
Once fully operational, the facility aims to sort up to 200,000 tonnes of recyclable material a year, of which it said 120,000 tonnes will be newspapers and magazines – providing 20% of the recovered paper used as raw material in the mill's paper production. The mill uses about 640,000 tonnes of newspapers and magazines a year to produce newsprint.
Efficient
David Ingham, general manager at UPM Shotton, said: “The MRF will be built adjacent to the recovered paper warehouse which makes it logistically very efficient. What we are doing is producing a very high quality product and the plant will help us to sustain our quality. We know that within the UK there are very diverse streams supplying material and we have to be part of that diverse structure.”
Mr Ingham added: “We already buy from MRFs and I believe we are the biggest consumer from MRFs.”
The MRF will not be designed to take in glass for sorting but will have some equipment to ensure any glass that is found can be removed: tenders for the equipment are still to be issued.
Mr Ingham confirmed that the parent company will be watching the project closely, partly because the MRF investment will be the first ever made by the paper group. And he explained that the world had moved on from when the plant was converted to using recovered fibre four years ago. “What was the case three to four years ago is different now. The situation has moved on and it is not a surprise to have this plant.”
Relationships
Shotton is keen to reassure existing suppliers that it wants to maintain relationships. Recovered fibre manager Craig Robinson said: “We take our existing relationships very seriously and our existing suppliers are very important to us.”
Speaking about the grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport, said, “I am delighted that we have been able to support this latest investment, which represents an important boost for the economy of North East Wales and will deliver long term benefits for the region.”
UPM Shotton is a supporter of the Campaign for Real Recycling via its membership of Paperchain. The campaign highlights what it sees as the disadvantage of collecting commingled material. It is not know whether opting to have its own MRF will change the company's stance towards involvement through Paperchain with the Campaign.
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