1924 Kemsley Paper Mill was built by newspaper publisher, Frank Lloyd, to produce his own newsprint.
1927 Kemsley Village was constructed in 1927 for staff operating the paper mill, with the first Kemsley baby born in January.
1935 The PM5 Super Calendar was the widest super calendar ever built at the time.
1970s In the 1970s, Kemsley diversified into the production of the recycled papers we still make today.
2008 The site became fully owned by DS Smith, doubling in size after a £104m investment, and started producing the UK’s first recycled lightweight paper.
2015 Our Reject Processing Centre diverts a large volume of waste that used to go to landfill and removes metals and fibre that can be recycled, and plastics that can be used to generate electricity. In 2022, we rebuilt the reject processing centre.
2018 The Anaerobic Digesters capture biomethane, which is supplied to the national grid to fuel homes and businesses.
2020 The Waste to Energy plant supplies a third of the steam that the mill needs to make our products, reducing annual emissions by 30,000 tonnes CO2e.
2022 We built a new Combined Heat and Power plant, helping to sustainably power our recycled paper making process. The new CHP plant reduces CO2e emissions by 36,000 tonnes a year.
2022 Reduce and Reuse! We transformed old safety boots into birdhouses as part of a biodiversity project. They were placed on the outer edge of the mill, ready for nesting.
2023 Bugingham Palace, another biodiversity project and Kemsley bug house, is built by employees. This is home to bees, beetles, spiders and more. We support the ecosystem by providing habitats for native insects.
2024 We celebrate 100 years of papermaking at Kemsley Paper Mill.
