UPM Communication Papers has announced that its recycled newsprint mill in Hürth, Germany will be shut down on 31 August. The company said last week that it had finalised negotiations with employee representatives both on the closure of the Hürth mill and on a capacity reduction at Nordland Papier in Dörpen, Germany.
UPM's Rhein Papier plant in Hürth has a design production capacity of up to 330,000 tonnes of newsprint a year using 100 per cent recovered paper as fibre raw material. It was established in 2002 and has 125 employees. UPM acquired the mill in 2011 through the takeover of its then parent company Myllykoski.
The site's new "Green Steam" 20 MW biomass power plant which started operating this year is not affected by the closure. The plant built by Eon was originally intended to supply the Hürth mill with steam and electricity, with surplus electricity to be fed into the public grid. In June, Eon was already negotiating with other potential customers.
At its Nordland Papier site in Dörpen, Germany, UPM will shut down its PM 3 paper machine by the end of this year at the latest. This machine has the capacity to produce up to 280,000 tonnes of woodfree uncoated paper a year.
UPM had announced the closures in May this year in response to the accelerated decline in demand for printing and writing paper. Altogether, 338 employees will be affected by the implementation of the plans.
