Metsä Tissue, a leading Finnish manufacturer of tissue paper and part of the Metsä Group, is set to generate over 400 direct job opportunities in the next decade through a substantial investment totaling several hundred million pounds.
Metsä Tissue has officially chosen Goole, located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, as the site for its planned cutting-edge tissue paper mill in the UK.
This significant investment, amounting to several hundred million pounds, will result in the largest tissue mill in the UK, aiming to significantly decrease the quantity of tissue products currently imported into the UK and Ireland each year. The new facility is expected to create more than 400 jobs at the site, in addition to fostering thousands of jobs across the supply chain and the local economy.
Esa Kaikkonen, CEO of Metsä Tissue, states, “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.”
Currently, up to 45% of tissue products are imported into the UK and Ireland. Metsä Tissue aims to replace nearly half of these imported products with locally produced goods, utilizing fresh fiber pulp as the primary raw material from sustainably managed forests in the Nordics. This reduction in import reliance is expected to positively impact the UK’s productivity, carbon footprint, and self-sufficiency in essential tissue products.
The Goole facility is designed to incorporate state-of-the-art sustainable production technologies, ensuring efficiency and world-class environmental performance. As part of its commitment to sustainability, Metsä Tissue targets manufacturing all products from fully fossil-fuel-free raw materials by 2030, striving for a net-zero society. Furthermore, the company aims for all its mills, including the new Goole facility, to operate without the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
Pending planning and environmental permits and a final investment decision, the site, covering approximately 200 acres, will have the capacity to produce 240,000 tons of tissue paper in several phases over the next decade.
This production level is unparalleled in the UK and will serve both professional and consumer markets. The planned facility represents the first major investment in the proposed Goole tax site within the Humber Freeport, which seeks to expedite inward investment in the Humber region.
Esa Kaikkonen concludes, “We are delighted to announce our plan to invest in a world-class production site in Goole. This exciting investment would bring the UK and Finland together through combining the sustainable raw material of fresh wood fibers grown in the Nordics with world-class local production of quality tissues in the UK.
We are thrilled about how these plans can contribute to more sustainable local tissue production in the UK, offering alternatives to the currently imported tissue products.” Minister for Investment, Lord Dominic Johnson, expresses confidence in this investment, stating that it will bring significant benefits to Goole, Yorkshire, Humberside, and North Lincolnshire.
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