Metsä Tissue, part of Metsä Group, a forestry group promoting sustainable bioeconomy, starts up a new tissue line in Germany to provide sustainable hygiene products to the Western European region. With the new line we are aiming to serve the growing professional hygiene market predominantly with our Katrin brand.
The new Metsä Tissue line in it’s Raubach mill in Germany produces folded tissue hand towels for professional use. With the additional capacity provided by the investment, the company is well positioned to supply the German market with its portfolio of sustainable tissues.
“Our products are a sustainable hygiene solution for everyday needs across the public spaces in Western Europe – from shopping centres, hotels and hospitals to office facilities. Tissue papers are the preferred choice of hand drying in public washrooms and our products offer an effective and sustainable means of taking care of hand hygiene. Especially in the times of the pandemic, tissue papers have been in demand to replace, for example, hot air dryers in public spaces. The benefit of tissue hygiene is that the bacteria are not spread when the paper is disposed after use”, says Tobias Lüning, Senior Vice President Central Europe, Metsä Tissue.
With the investment in new machine technology, Metsä Tissue will respond to its customers’ needs and offers hygiene tissue products, produced and transported locally, and more efficiently and sustainably than before.
“According to our strategy we focus on producing and selling tissue products close to our customers. Our target is to make the whole value chain, from the forest to the end product, more sustainable. Through this investment we are able to pack +20 % more products per pallet and truckload than before, thus minimizing the need for unnecessary transportation. This will enable us to reduce our CO2 emission per delivered ton of hygiene papers in our Raubach mill”, concludes Lüning.
The new converting line at Metsä Tissue’s Raubach mill has a production capacity of approximately 14,000 tonnes of folded tissue paper hand towels per year. The line has started in September 2021, and it will be in full production by 2022.