Essity opens £30m recycled fibre facility at Prudhoe mill. Essity has officially opened a £30 million-plus recycled fibre processing facility at its Prudhoe mill in Northumberland, the tissue manufacturer's biggest UK investment in a decade. The new Unifibres plant raises Prudhoe's recycled fibre capacity to more than 105,000 tonnes a year.
The 4,150 square metre plant replaces the former Unifibres complex on the same site and has been built to process a wider range of recovered paper, including lower-grade material and board. Essity says it will improve the segregation of contaminants such as plastics, reduce the risk of waste going to landfill and lift the company's total UK recycled fibre capacity to around 190,000 tonnes a year. The brands supplied include Cushelle, Velvet and Tork.
Martin Hallissey, site manager at Essity's Prudhoe mill, said: 'The opening of this recycled fibre facility is a proud moment for everyone at Prudhoe. It's a significant investment in our site and our people, and it strengthens our ability to source recycled fibre while improving efficiency and reducing waste.'
The UK processed 4.013 million tonnes of waste wood in 2025, 89 per cent of the total generated, according to annual statistics from the Wood Recyclers' Association. The figure is down 7.3 per cent on 2024 after unplanned outages at end-use plants created oversupply and squeezed storage.
recell.store, the Altilium-owned marketplace for used EV batteries, has partnered with testing firm ClearWatt to offer battery health assessments to salvage yards and dismantlers. A pilot will use ClearWatt's EV Flash Test to generate independent health data supporting marketplace transactions.
Packaging firm Pact Group has invested in Plan B Circular, the UK textile-to-textile polyester recycler behind Project Re:claim, its joint venture with the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL). The deal aims to scale polyester recycling ahead of EU legislation expected in 2028.