Metsä Tissue, the tissue paper business of the forest industry group Metsä Group, is planning to invest in a new tissue mill with a capacity of 240.000 tpy in the UK. The plan, which will take shape over a decade, is part of the company’s Future Tissue Mill programme, which aims to achieve world-class environmental performance in tissue production. The mill will be built in several phases during the upcoming decade and will use sustainable fresh fibre pulp. The first phase of the investment is scheduled to be ready during 2025, Metsä Tissue said. The tissue paper is destined for customers in the UK and Ireland.
«Over the past couple of years we have been developing a Future Mill concept in relation to our planned tissue mill expansion in Mariestad, Sweden. Our studies will enable us to utilise more efficient and better technology than today, which will make us more competitive and more environmentally efficient» says Esa Kaikkonen, CEO of Metsä Tissue.
The site will be built in stages over the next decade and will use sustainable fresh fibre pulp. According to the company itself, the first phase of the investment should be ready in 2025. As the next step, the company will be looking into a possible location of the mill, which will be selected during the first half of 2022. The locations currently under investigation are Newark and Hull.
New tissue line in Germany
Metsä Tissue has started a new tissue line in Germany to provide sustainable hygiene products to the Western European region. With the new line we are aiming to serve the growing professional hygiene market predominantly with the Katrin brand.
The new Metsä Tissue line in its Raubach mill in Germany produces folded tissue hand towels for professional use. With the additional capacity provided by the investment, the company is well positioned to supply the German market with its portfolio of sustainable tissues. «Our products are a sustainable hygiene solution for everyday needs across the public spaces in Western Europe – from shopping centres, hotels and hospitals to office facilities» says Tobias Lüning, senior vice president Central Europe, Metsä Tissue. «Tissue papers are the preferred choice of hand drying in public washrooms and our products offer an effective and sustainable means of taking care of hand hygiene. Especially in the times of the pandemic, tissue papers have been in demand to replace, for example, hot air dryers in public spaces. The benefit of tissue hygiene is that the bacteria are not spread when the paper is disposed after use».
With the investment in new machine technology, Metsä Tissue will respond to its customers’ needs and offers hygiene tissue products, produced and transported locally, and more efficiently and sustainably than before.
«According to our strategy we focus on producing and selling tissue products close to our customers. Our target is to make the whole value chain, from the forest to the end product, more sustainable. Through this investment we are able to pack +20 % more products per pallet and truckload than before, thus minimizing the need for unnecessary transportation. This will enable us to reduce our CO2 emissions per delivered ton of hygiene papers in our Raubach mill» concludes Lüning.
The new converting line at Metsä Tissue’s Raubach mill has a production capacity of approximately 14,000 tonnes of folded tissue paper hand towels per year. The line has started in September 2021, and it will be in full production by 2022.