The expansion plan will secure 500 jobs and mean a huge rise in the amount of paper recycled at Shotton Paper on Deeside.

Local council could use the facilities

Following the investment the UK's largest newsprint mill will be converted to use 100% recycled fibre.

The development is waiting for official planning permission after receiving a government grant which would see an extra four million households involved in recycling schemes.

Environmentalists have claimed that recycled fibre production will be increased by 900 tonnes per day.

The project will turn waste into paper and is part of a government drive to increase recycling in the UK.

The Environment Agency have said they do not object to the new plant but they have raised concerns that the site is at risk of flooding.

Landfill sites

According to the Welsh Assembly, Wales is near the bottom of the European league in waste management.

Currently around 95% of domestic rubbish goes to landfill sites.

Despite a series of government and EU targets, the proportion that is recycled has remained around 5%.

To comply with EU directives, ministers want that to increase to 25% by 2005, rising to at least 33% by 2015.

Increase efficiency

Shotton Paper's Managing Director Martin Gale said: "This latest investment will have far reaching implications and will be very significant for local authorities within a 100 mile radius.

"They will have an outlet for recycling newspapers and magazines."

The plant's Finland-based parent company, UPM Kymmene, says the investment will increase efficiency at the plant.

The development means the company will be able to take an additional 320,000 tonnes of recovered newspapers and magazines every year.