Essity to Invest in Paper Recycling Facility at its Northumberland Mill in the UK

One of the county of Northumberland’s biggest manufacturing employers, Essity, has unveiled plans for a paper recycling plant that will further reduce its dependence on virgin wood fiber to make products such as toilet rolls.

Essity Prudhoe Mill hopes to replace a 50-year-old recycling plant with a new building housing the latest in recycling technology, that will reduce energy costs and increase the company’s ability to make new products from recycled fiber.

“The old Unifibers building has served us well – but both it and some of the equipment it houses have reached the end of their working lives,” said program manager Paul Oliver.

“Essity is committed to a more sustainable future, and using recycled paper in our toilet rolls and paper towels has always been central to that. A high proportion of recycled paper in our products is also popular with our supermarket customers and environmentally-aware shoppers.

“In the past, most of our recycled pulp was made from office wastepaper – but availability went down as companies moved away from printers and photocopiers in favour of email and PDFs – and the post-Covid working from home trend has accelerated that.”

A planning application for the multi-million pound investment has been submitted to Northumberland County Council – with a decision expected in the next couple of months.

If approved, it will enable Essity to recycle new sources of lower-grade material – such as cardboard packaging used for the delivery of online shopping items – and protect the company from having to use greater amounts of more-expensive virgin fiber in the future.

The old Unifibers building is deemed no longer fit for purpose and will be demolished when the new building just to the north of the site is in place – assuming planning permission is granted. The area will be levelled, once production has moved to the new facility, and used for storage of the finished product.

“Growing our recycled fiber capability is vital to the long-term future of the business,” added Paul Oliver. “The proposed new building and advanced production equipment will reduce our energy requirements, improve the working conditions for our staff and represents another significant investment in Prudhoe Mill.

“This exciting project will also enhance long-term job prospects as well as training and development opportunities for employees and our apprentices.”

Back to Tissue360 Newsletter