Shotton paper and cardboard plant’s £1bn investment

A £1 billion conversion of a former paper mill could “revolutionise recycling in the UK”, its owners claim.

Up to 2,000 contractors are working to transform Shotton Mill in Flintshire into one of the UK’s largest cardboard and tissue production facilities, which it hopes will be operational next year.

Turkish company Eren Holding said it New factory will be the most advanced of its kind in Europe It marks part of the ‘North Wales Renaissance’.

The UK government described it as a “huge vote of confidence in the Welsh economy”, while the Welsh Government said it was “great news” for Deeside and beyond.

The paper mill, which once produced newsprint, employed 530 people in the 1990s. However, as demand for newsprint fell, so did that number, and in 2021 the mill was acquired from UPM by family-owned Eren Holding.

It also includes an area that once housed the blast furnaces of the Shotton Steelworks, which closed in 1980, leaving thousands of workers jobless.

Eren Holding has 14,000 employees and its businesses include energy production, paper and retail.

The UK exports waste cardboard, which is recycled overseas and then imported back into the UK for sale.

Eren Holding said its new plant will process a quarter of the waste cardboard currently shipped overseas from the UK and focus on producing containerboard, which is used to make packaging and corrugated boxes from recycled paper, and tissue products.

The company claims that the plant will be the most technologically advanced plant of its kind in Europe.

The company also claimed that the move would transform the UK “from a net importer to a net exporter of paperboard and tissue products”, a development that represents one of the “most significant foreign manufacturing investments in the UK in many years”.

Board member Hamdullah Eren said: “This is the first step towards building a world-class facility that will revolutionise recycling in the UK.

“We can’t wait to start production and turn our vision into reality.”

Chief executive Sabri Cimen said: “This investment will build on Deeside’s rich manufacturing heritage and will bring together talent, community, advanced technology and investment.”

The company said that by establishing a hydrogen combined heat and power plant, the site will become “energy self-sufficient.”

The UK government has agreed to underwrite £136m of export development guarantees to help businesses access high-value loans.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the Welsh economy.”

Welsh Secretary of State Joe Stevens said: “Deeside has a long and proud history as one of Wales’ major industrial centres and this major investment from both our governments will secure jobs and a prosperous future for the region.”

The Welsh Government said the development would Once the factory is fully operational, it will secure 147 jobs and create 220 jobslake

Welsh Economy, Energy and Planning Secretary Rebecca Evans said it was “great news for Deeside and the wider Welsh economy”.

She added that the Welsh Government had allocated £13 million to the project to help safeguard and create jobs.

Jackie Pearson, corporate affairs director at Shotton Mills, remembers going to Shotton Steelworks as a six-year-old to collect her father’s wages, where her father worked as a plumber.

In 1985, aged 17, she began working as an apprentice at the then Shotton Paper Company, which was based at the same location.

Now she’s excited about its new life.

“This whole place has given me the opportunity to grow and develop, both as a person and as my business. There’s a lot to be thankful for in this place. It’s been amazing to see it rise from the ground and see the cranes in the air and the shovels on the ground.

“It will create a future for other people like me.”