DS Smith's £100m St Regis mill revamp helps cut paper imports

St Regis-owner DS Smith bought the Kemsley mill from M-real in 2008 and following a £100m refit it began producing the K-light CCM in January of last year.

It is the UK's first plant to produce the lightweight material and the PM6 machine manufactures some 264,000 tonnes of K-light a year, of which the vast majority is sold domestically and helps reduce imports.

"K-light has continued to prove itself, consistently beating lightweight papers from Continental Europe," St Regis said in a statement.

K-light is made from 100% recycled paper and is 25% stronger than some lightweight papers on the market, resulting in increased box strength.

The PM6 machine can produce one kilometre of 6.7m-wide paper a minute and St Regis has hailed the commitment of its staff to hit deadlines.

"St Regis supplies some customers immediately from stock and can spring to the rescue of others when imported papers fail to arrive. This really is British manufacturing at its best," the firm said.

The news comes a month after SAICA gave the final go-ahead for its £290m recycled paper mill in Partington Wharf near Manchester.

Click here for today's headlines from across the manufacturing industry