PAPER & DISPOSABLES 50 years and still going strong
As Northwood celebrates its 50th year in business, we talk to chairman Paul Fecher about how the company has evolved, its greatest achievements and what’s next for one of the UK’s largest suppliers of paper hygiene products.
Tell us about Northwood and what makes it different?
The Northwood Group of associated companies is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of Away- from-Home and retail consumer paper
hygiene and wiping products.
We’ve expanded organically and through acquisition, and are now one of the industry’s only vertically integrated groups. Unlike many businesses in the industry, our activities span raw material supply, manufacturing, end user product converting, storage and transportation, enabling us to ensure excellence throughout our operation.
We have 10 UK sites, including three paper mills in Disley, Chesterfield and Lancaster, and our UK converting businesses operate in both the away-from-home (AfH) and retail consumer sectors.
Why is domestic manufacturing important?
As a British manufacturer with a domestic supply chain, we are focused on a full circle economy to reduce waste, decrease energy consumption and lower carbon footprint.
A key part of our strategy is our continued investment in UK manufacturing. By manufacturing as many finished goods as possible in the UK, we've significantly reduced our carbon footprint, with products and raw materials having to travel less than those manufactured overseas.
We continually invest in new converting assets with state- of-the-art energy efficient technology. This has enabled the business to reduce reliance on finished goods suppliers in Europe and we now manufacture 98.9% of our paper products in the UK, reducing upstream transport emissions.
With increased UK capability, we have manufactured 3.3bn hand towels in the UK in the last 12 months.
What achievements have you made towards sustainability?
One of a handful of companies in the UK that is fully vertically integrated, selling as well as converting parent reels, we collect more than 100,000 tonnes of recovered fibres and produce nearly 70,000 recycled parent reels a year. 75% of our products are made from recycled paper and all of our paper mills now produce Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified base sheet paper.
We’ve also manufactured a record 12.5m cases of recycled products and manufactured more FSC certified products than ever before, and have extended our sourcing policy to ensure that our supply chain is fully onboard with the same
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sustainability principles. All the paper and board goods we purchase, such as labels, boxes and cores, are now FSC certified, just like our own finished goods.
We also work hard with our suppliers to reduce the amount of plastic, and have recently moved to 50% PCR for all our printed film.
Committed to using energy generated from renewable sources wherever possible, we recently invested in a new boiler at our Disley paper mill, which will cut CO2
by 8% per vehicle.
How has the industry evolved since you established Northwood 50 years ago?
The industry has developed hugely over the last five decades, particularly when it comes to technology and sustainability.
Technological advancements have helped the industry to develop better production processes, optimising the speed of manufacture and the quality of finished goods. At Northwood, for instance, we have made substantial investments into state-of-the-art equipment that enables us to manufacture advanced tissue products for both the home and industrial client base.
Carbon reduction processes are also a key focus of the business. With a goal to be Net Zero by 2050 and reduce waste going to landfill to below 0.3% by 2030, we have introduced many plastic-free initiatives. We also use recycled fibres throughout the supply chain where possible, including in packaging.
We’ve also made significant progress towards sustainability and environmental performance. We completed our first carbon footprint for 2022 including scopes 1, 2 and 3 and delivered a significant S1 and S2 reduction in CO2
case, exceeding our five-year target.
What wider ESG goals do you have? We have an ambitious ESG plan. Carbon reduction is a prime objective and, to achieve net zero by 2050, we have set significant scope 1, 2 and 3 reduction targets every year.
We’re also very proactive in the community and support local initiatives. We partner with Trees for Cities and, last year, funded the planting of over 1,000 trees in UK urban areas.
This year, as part of our ongoing commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, we donated 14,400 toilet rolls to the Trussel Fund food banks to coincide with National Food Bank Day.
Our Green Loop recycling package has made it easier than ever before to recycle waste products in washrooms and
twitter.com/TomoCleaning on site by
around 15%. Plus, our new logistics fleet of 31 vehicles has reduced CO2
of 15% per
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