Verso Completes Return of PM 5 from Expera, Begins GlazeGuard Production

 

According to a report this past week by The Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Me., USA), Verso (Memphis, Tenn.) has completed the expected rejection of a bankruptcy contract they received permission to break (featured in OTW  6/2/2016 edition) that would have allowed a Wisconsin papermaker to use PM 5 at its Jay, Me., mill, which Verso said this week it will use instead to make a brand new product (grease-resistant paper) to sell to food service businesses (featured in OTW 6/9/2016 edition).

Verso has now officially announced the release of its new product name and manufacturing location - on Jay’s PM 5, which it said will be used for items such as deli wraps, food service liners, microwave popcorn bags, and laminated food pouches.

Food packaging generally is expected to grow in the coming years, according to a forecast from the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, and paper products are a portion of that.

Kathi Rowzie, a spokeswoman for Verso, wrote in a recent email that the the Jay mill is already filling orders for the new product, GlazeGuard. Rowzie wrote that the machine "is a great fit with the rest of our specialty products platform, and its return to Verso’s manufacturing system expands our opportunities to drive innovation in the specialty papers market. Overall, this is good news for Verso, the Androscoggin Mill, our specialty customers, and other stakeholders."

 

 

Pictured above: A logging truck delivers its load to the Verso paper mill in Jay, Maine. 

 

Verso’s move to officially announce making a specific type of new product (GlazeGuard) on PM 5 came about a week after a Delaware bankruptcy judge first approved letting the company reject a contract initially signed between Expera Specialty Solutions and the mill’s former owner, International Paper. Verso and 26 subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in January after its leveraged buyout of larger competitor NewPage for $1.4 billion. That contract was due to expire in 2017, but the bankruptcy court found that Verso’s request to reject the contract was in the best interest of the company and its creditors as it seeks to restructure under Chapter 11.

Expera spokeswoman Addie Teeters said the Wisconsin firm is no longer taking orders for products made on PM 5 after rejection of that contract.

"We have had discussions with Verso through the process and expect discussions to continue," Teeters said.