Metsä Tissue announced that it has chosen Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire as the site for its planned new state-of-the-art tissue paper mill in the UK. This landmark investment of several hundreds of millions of pounds will deliver the largest tissue mill in the UK and significantly reduce the quantity of tissue products that are currently imported into the UK and Ireland each year.
Subject to planning and environmental permits and a final investment decision, the site will occupy an area of around 200 acres and will have the capacity to produce 240,000 tons of tissue paper per year, built in several phases over the next decade, serving both the professional and consumer markets.
According to Metsä Tissue, up to 45% of tissue products are currently imported into the UK and Ireland. Metsä Tissue aims to replace almost half of the imported products with local British production, using fresh fibre pulp as the main raw material from sustainably-managed forests in the Nordics. Reducing the reliance on imports will have a positive impact on the UK's productivity, carbon footprint and self-sufficiency for essential tissue products.
"Goole is the perfect location for this proposed investment. The Humber region provides a crucial gateway to the whole of the United Kingdom and the region's ambitions to bring cutting-edge green technology and jobs to the UK matches our ambitions in clean, sustainable manufacturing," says Esa Kaikkonen, CEO of Metsä Tissue.
The Goole facility will use cutting-edge sustainable production technologies to deliver an efficient and modern facility with world class environmental performance.
Metsä Group noted that it aims for all its mills, including the new Goole facility, to operate without the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
The planned facility would be the first major investment in the proposed Goole tax site within the Humber Freeport, which aims to accelerate inward investment in the Humber region. In addition, the new mill will create 400+ jobs at the facility, as well as thousands more across the supply chain and the local economy.
Minister for Investment, Lord Dominic Johnson, said, "This investment is a huge vote of confidence in Goole, Yorkshire and Humberside. With hundreds of millions of pounds being committed, and thousands of jobs being created at both the new site and in the wider supply chain, this will have huge benefits for workers and businesses in Goole and many communities across East Riding, Yorkshire, Humberside and North Lincolnshire."
TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/