UPM invests on materials recovery facility at Shotton paper mill

UPM will invest approximately 17 million pounds in a materials recovery facility at its UPM Shotton paper mill in North Wales. Construction of the facility will commence immediately and will be completed by January 2011.

The materials recovery facility has been designed to allow UPM Shotton to sort dry recyclables such as plastic bottles, cardboard, newspapers, magazines and metals. All recyclable paper can be utilized at Shotton, but other materials will be taken elsewhere for suitable reuse.

UPM is the world's largest user of recycled fibre in graphic papers consuming annually 3 million tons of recovered paper. The new facility will enable the Shotton mill, which currently recovers approximately 640,000 tons of recovered newspapers and magazines per annum, to source high quality paper from co-mingled sources.

Once fully operational, the facility will sort up to 200,000 tons of recyclable material every year. Out of this, about 120,000 tons will be newspapers and magazines, which corresponds to about 20 per cent of the recovered paper used as raw material in the mill's paper production.

The investment is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government with a 1.7 million pound Single Investment Fund grant. The investment will create up to 160 permanent jobs at the mill site when operating at full capacity.