(UPM, Shotton, June 22, 2007 at 15.00) – The Secretary of State for Wales, the Rt. Hon. Peter Hain MP has formally opened the new boiler plant at UPM's Shotton paper mill site in Flintshire North Wales stating it as an exemplar project in tackling carbon emissions and minimising environmental impact.
The new boiler plant, started up in December 2006, combusts all sludge produced from the Shotton paper mill's recovered paper recycling process, using biomass fuels.
The investment has increased UPM Shotton's self-sufficiency in heat by up to 90-95 per cent and in power by up to 25 percent. In addition, UPM's carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 30,000 tonnes annually.
Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain MP said: “Climate change is the greatest single threat facing the world today, and renewable energy schemes like UPM's biomass plant have a crucial role to play in tackling it. The Government supports a wide range of measures to encourage biofuels and other renewable energy sources so I am particularly pleased to see large multinationals like UPM taking renewable energy so seriously."
“UPM is playing a crucial role in helping us to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Government's commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 Million tonnes of Carbon (MtC) by 2020."
“Their use of biofuels and recycled materials are exemplars of how we should all approach the serious task of reducing CO2 emissions and minimising environmental impact."
Mr David Ingham, Vice President and General Manager of UPM Shotton concluded: "The continuous improvement of the UPM Shotton site has been enabled by support of not only the government and its agencies, but also by its employees and parent company. It is a testament to all those partners that UPM Shotton has become a model of sustainable business".
UPM Shotton's production capacity is 520,000 tonnes newsprint based solely on recovered paper. The mill's processing capacity is some 700,000 tonnes of recovered paper annually and employs approximately 460 people at its Deeside Industrial Estate site.
In December 2006 UPM announced an investment of £59M for another renewable energy plant for its UPM Caledonian paper mill in Ayrshire Scotland.
For further information please contact:
Mr David Ingham, Vice President and General Manager, UPM, Shotton, tel. +44 (0)1244 28 4407
Mr Will Stone, Head of Communications UK & Ireland, tel. +44(0)7841 493447
