Welcome to the Ecco Newsprint website.

Ecco Newsprint has been created to finance, construct and operate a high speed, world scale newsprint production facility based entirely on recycled raw material.

The mill will be established at the Wilton International industrial complex on Teesside, where Ecco has secured a 66 acre greenfield site, on which planning consent was granted in 2006. The UK is the largest newsprint consuming market in Europe, and imports two thirds of this requirement. By locating at Wilton, Ecco will be ideally placed to offer the highest standards of service to customers, and be in close proximity to new sources of used newspapers and magazines.

Why is this development needed?

There are four principal reasons why the proposed newsprint paper facility is needed:

Needs of the Paper Industry

Currently the UK consumes much more newsprint than it produces, resulting in high levels of imports. The proposed facility will serve principally the UK market, while also creating exports.

The National & Local Economies

The proposed plant is expected to improve the UK’s balance of payments by about £170 million a year and will create between 1,500-2,000 jobs indirectly within both the up and down-stream supply chains in the paper industry. Around 175 permanent jobs would be created directly on-site, whilst up to 2,000 jobs during the construction phase will be created.

Policy

Currently UK policy is to divert waste away from landfill by encouraging recycling and other forms of material recovery. 100% recovered waste paper will be the facility’s primary raw material.

Environmental Issues

In comparison to producing newsprint using virgin fibre, recycling uses significantly less water and electricity and produces significantly fewer emissions. Also newsprint produced in the UK from recycled used newspapers and magazines allows the papermill to be sited close to its raw material sources and to its customers. This gives the benefit of far fewer transport miles compared to newsprint manufactured overseas in far distant forests. It is therefore an excellent environmental solution.