More than a thousand visitors attended Open Days to help mark a quarter of a century of sustainable manufacturing. Guests were treated to a wide range of family orientated entertainment including traditional fair rides and sideshows. Displays by UPM Shotton apprentices, Carbon Trust and UPM Tilhill provided visitors an insight into the mill's daily operations and sustainable practice.
David Ingham, General Manager UPM Shotton said: "Achieving 25 years of successful operations is a significant achievement considering the economic challenges of the past two decades. The fact we are able to celebrate our silver jubilee is testament to the long-term strategy of UPM and effective investments.
Our employees are at the centre of that success and sharing this landmark milestone with them and their families is but a small way of saying thank you to them." he added.
Starting out as a single line newsprint mill using virgin fibre, the mill quickly gained a reputation for a high quality product and customer service, claims UPM. Further investment took place with a second paper machine added in 1987 with a conversion to 100% recycled fibre by 2003. This particular investment made UPM Shotton the UK's largest recycled newsprint mill capable of producing 500,000 tonnes of high quality newsprint for the UK and international newspaper publishing market.
In 2006, the mill started up a Combined Heat Power plant combusting 200,000 on site deinking residues and biomass from forest waste. The start up enabled the paper mill to reduce its CO2 emissions by a further 100,000 tonnes per year taking the total CO2 emission reduction to over 650,000 tonnes since the mill started up operations in 1985.
In January 2010, UPM announced a further investment to the site of £17m to build a materials recovery facility which will sort up to 200,000 tonnes of comingled dry recyclables including plastic bottles, paper, cardboard and tins. The latest investment will create approximately 160 jobs. The facility is due to start up January 2011. The Deputy First Minister for Wales visited the site recently to see developments first hand.
About UPM Shotton
UPM says: “UPM Shotton is part of the UPM, a global forest products business and Europe’s biggest recycler of newspapers and magazines. It recycles 700,000 tonnes a year – equivalent to 95,000 double decker buses. UPM Shotton is the largest newsprint mill in the UK, producing newsprint for the national and the regional press, with capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes a year.
Following the investment of over £120million to create the world’s biggest single line recovered fibre pulping facility, UPM Shotton now creates newsprint from 100% recovered paper sources.”
