The material solutions company UPM has entered into a collaboration with international technology group Andritz to recycle its paper machine clothing. This initiative uses innovative recycling approaches to return used fabrics and felts made from synthetic polymers to the circular economy. This avoids thermal disposal and its associated emissions while reducing the demand for fossil-based raw materials.
Paper machine clothing supplied by Andritz and other suppliers that has reached the end of its life is collected at UPM paper mills. The collection is coordinated by HolyPoly, a German recycling company and key partner in this initiative. HolyPoly ensures proper recycling of press felts made from different polyamides (PA) and of forming fabrics mainly composed of PA and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), in compliance with all relevant regulations.
Heiner Schütte, Senior Sourcing Manager at UPM, comments, “We at UPM are delighted to collaborate with Andritz and HolyPoly to recycle our used paper machine clothing. With this initiative, we are moving the utilization of used paper machine clothing higher up the waste hierarchy, from energy recovery to material recycling.“
Material recycling instead of incineration
The recycled material from UPM mills is currently used to produce injection-molded parts for the automotive and furniture industries, replacing virgin polymers. The demand for such material is high, and the recycling process is already fully scalable. In addition to substituting virgin polymers, each ton of recycled paper machine clothing prevents approximately 3 tons of CO₂ emissions by avoiding incineration. Around 7,000 tons of paper machine clothing are discarded from paper machines in Europe each year. Most of this waste is currently incinerated or, in some cases, landfilled.
In parallel, Andritz is working to further optimize granulate quality and specifications to also enable the use of the recycled material in the demanding manufacturing of new paper machine clothing.
With this pioneering initiative, Andritz aims to fulfill its responsibility as a manufacturer and exceed the extended producer responsibility requirements (EPR) planned by the EU. The project was made possible through the strong commitment and support of UPM from the outset.
Several mills participating
The program was launched on an industrial scale in January 2025 by Andritz together with HolyPoly and UPM. UPM has been actively involved in the development process, providing materials. Several UPM mills in Finland and Germany are already participating in the program.
Photo/Andritz
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