Paper Recycling Facility to be Built at Carrington UK

photo : bloglemu.blogspot.com

The Spanish company Sociedad Anónima Industrias Celulosa Aragonesa (Saica) has announced it will spend £290million to build a new paper recycling facility in Carrington, near Manchester, UK.

Construction will begin later this year and the facility is due to start-up in  2012. The plant will produce 400,000 t/y of 100% recycled board for use in corrugated cardboard. The investment will include advanced effluent treatment works and a combined heat and power station.

Carrington is the site of the petrochemical complex, formerly operated by Shell Chemicals, which at its peak, employed some 3500 staff. The paper mill itself is located on the site of a former BP distribution terminal, located alongside the Manchester Ship Canal.

This is very good news for an area which has seen multiple chemical plant closures in recent years. LyondellBasell shut down an LDPE plant at Carrington at the end of 2009 and NOVA Innovene (now Ineos NOVA) shut down a PS plant at the end of 2006. As someone who worked at Carrington for many years, I'm delighted to see new investment in the area.

Ineos NOVA Annouces Breda Site Closure

photo: Ineos NOVA

As a manufacturer, it feels like I've blogged about site closures (and how to achieve succesful closure) too many times recently. Whilst site closure is necessary for operating companies and for the wider chemical industry, it's never a pleasant experience.

Another European petrochemical plant closure was announced yesterday, with Ineos NOVA announcing the closure of its Breda PS plant in the Netherlands. The plant, with a capacity of 90kT produces general purpose PS and some speciality PS. The plant employs 55 people.

Expandable polystyrene production will continue at the site, which also hosts a number of the administrative functions for Ineos NOVA.

I've talked about how to ensure successful site closure in previous posts (see 25th July blog entry for full details). One major factor in the overall closure cost is the current value of scrap metal. In late 2008, prices for mixed scrap peaked at 450 €/tonne but prices have since fallen back to 2005 levels and are currently around €180/tonne. As demolition contractors recycle everything that can be re-used, this reduced price has a big impact on the overall cost.