UK newsprint mill conversion proposed

The Turkish owner of a former UPM newsprint mill in the United Kingdom reportedly has submitted a proposal to a local council to initiate a project to convert the mill’s capacity to containerboard and tissue production.

An online report on the Liverpool, U.K.-based Business Live website says Turkey-based Eren Paper Ltd., which this May bought the facility in Shotton, Wales, plans to convert the mill’s newsprint capacity to the production of containerboard and tissue products.

Operating paper machines to make those products may well allow Eren Paper to use several grades of recovered fiber. The Business Live website indicates the “scoping request” submitted to the Flintshire Council in Wales acknowledges that an analysis of the U.K. paper industry “shows that the U.K. is currently a net importer of both containerboard products and tissue products, while at the same time being a net exporter of recycled [scrap] paper.”

The request goes on to state, according to Business Live, “The proposed development is intended to close both these gaps by increasing production at the site, thereby allowing the use of more recycled paper, with the proposed new cardboard paper production facility using 100 percent recycled paper. At the same time, switching production from the declining newsprint market to the new production facility will allow the U.K. as a whole to be more self-supporting in these materials, reducing reliance on external supply.”

The documents were submitted in part to receive permission to engage in some demolition work at the site. In addition to adding or converting one or more new paper machines, Eren Paper also mentions installing a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Shotton.

The Place North West website, based in Manchester U.K., says the mill sits on some 148 acres of land, and that Eren Paper plans to construct 900,000 square feet of manufacturing space for the tissue operations. That report also indicates an existing materials recovery facility (MRF), operated by UPM, will remain on-site.