UK: About 90,000t/yr of testliner capacity will soon be lost from the UK market. DS Smith will close its Wansbrough mill in Somerset, which also produces other products such as gypsum wallboard liner, on 23 December 2015.
DS Smith had announced a possible closure at the end of August 2015. At that time, the company had said the decision had been made after an assessment of the facility's long-term prospects.
The Wansbrough mill operates two paper machines. According to the plant manager, they manufacture roughly 90,000t/yr of testliner III, 30,000t/yr of coreboard, 18,000t/yr of recycled paper for bags, 12,000t/yr of recycled envelope paper and 10,000t/yr of other products such as wallboard liner.
DS Smith operates another paper mill in the UK, the Kemsley mill in Kent, where the company produces corrugated case material on three machines with a total capacity of around 800,000t/yr.
