Aylesford’s project involves a new paper machine at its site in Kent which will reprocess over 400,000 tonnes of wastepaper when it is running at full capacity, and will result in a net increase in the UK’s reprocessing capacity of over 300,000 tonnes per annum.
Chairman of WRAP, Vic Cocker, said: “This project will deliver a 30% increase in the UK’s reprocessing capacity for newsprint and will stimulate exactly the sort of step change in recycling levels which WRAP was created to bring about.
“We hope it will be particularly helpful to local authorities, many of whom are introducing new recycling schemes in order to meet the Government’s targets under the Waste Strategy. The collection of newspapers and magazines will often form the backbone of those schemes, so the boost in demand this project will create is very timely.
Final details
“We received very high quality bids for this support. The Board, advised by a panel of independent experts, concluded that the Aylesford bid offered the best proposal taking into account our stated criteria. We have now invited Aylesford to conclude the final details with us with a view to entering into a contract as soon as possible.”
The new machine is expected to come on stream towards the end of 2003, although final agreement of the support will be subject to EU State Aids clearance.
The support will be funded by a combination of WRAP’s own funds and substantial contributions from a number of the major landfill operators and environmental bodies under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
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