UPM announced plans to build a material recovery facility at its UPM Shotton paper mill in Wales. The project is slated to cost around 17 million British pounds (US$27.4 million). The facility will begin immediately, and be completed by January 2011. When fully operational the MRF will result in the hiring of as many as 160 people.
The new facility will allow the mill, which currently consumes around 640,000 metric tons of old newspapers and old magazines a year, a new source for recovered fiber from commingled sources. Once fully operational, the facility will sort up to 200,000 metric tons of recyclables a year, including around 120,000 metric tons of ONP and OMG, which will provide the mill with 20 percent of the recovered paper used as raw material in the mill's paper production. Surplus recyclable material will be recycled by other reprocessors as required.
David Ingham, GM at UPM Shotton said: "Our vision for UPM Shotton is to be the frontrunner in creating value from renewable and recyclable materials. Building a materials recovery facility at Shotton is a natural step towards this vision. It enables us to provide solutions to our partners in paper recycling and meet UK market needs in processing recyclable materials".