The UK branch of the international group, which supplies magazine paper, packaging and associated services in the UK, moved into new offices at the end of 2017. Four full-time staff and one part-timer now work out of a high-street office in Tenterden, Kent.
In 2018, Leipa UK will begin to offer its white top testliner (WTTL) products to UK customers, while it continues to ramp up its usage of waste paper to create products. The recycling division was officially launched in August last year, purchasing raw material in the UK for transport to the group’s base in Schwedt, Germany.
Sales director David Heine said: “Our recycling operation is going very well and, as of the start of this year, we are using 100,000 metric tonnes of waste paper in production.
“The goal is to enable us to offer a closed loop of production in the UK, where material is used, recycled, used again, and so on. With our new PM5 machine at the mill in Schwedt, we will be the largest producer of paper products from recycled fibre in Europe, using almost 1.5m metric tonnes.
“As for our new base, it is going very well. We are at the centre of an old English market town with great access to London and the South East, as well as easy commuting for our employees.”
Leipa UK moved out of its Biddenden, Kent, premises when its lease was not renewed.
The new PM5 at Leipa’s Schwedt base for WTTL products is a rebuilt, former UPM machine, which produced its final reel of newsprint at the end of October 2017.
Leipa’s WTTL packaging products will be available in the UK both coated and uncoated to CEPI specification grade C, and from 100-160gsm.
