McKinley Paper Recycled Containerboard Mill to Open Next Year in Washington

 

According to a Sept. 26, 2018 report by The Peninsula Daily News (Port Angeles, Wash., USA) McKinley Paper (Dallas, Tex., USA) officials have said the company will begin production at its Port Angeles mill by September 2019, ending a curtailment that began in April 2017.

The company announced Monday plans to produce 250,000 short tons of containerboard at the mill on Ediz Hook, doubling its domestic capacity and bringing its total annual capacity to 2 million tons in Mexico and the U.S.

 

 

"We expect to start production by September 2019 and look forward to positively impact local and regional employment and the overall economy," the announcement said.

McKinley purchased the Port Angeles mill from Japanese-owned Nippon Paper Industries USA for $20.6 million in March 2017. The company is retooling the 98-year-old factory to manufacture containerboard from recycled paperboard, a heavier grade paper than the newsprint and telephone directory paper that Nippon produced.

"Once we start up and are running at fully bore, we expect to have a total of about 150 employees," said Cathy Price, McKinley HR manger and spokeswoman.

Nippon also employed about 150 workers at the mill before it closed. There are about 25 McKinley employees who are now maintaining the Port Angeles plant, Price said Tuesday. Company officials announced the recycling-based "conversion plan startup" late Monday.

"McKinley will replicate its sustainability model to produce paper without cutting trees in the middle of the forest heart of USA: The state of Washington, contributing to further enhancing the environmental status in the region," the announcement said. "By recycling paper, the company aims to reduce energy and water consumption and landfill disposal in the region as well as to become a net capturer of CO2, helping to build a green economy."

Plans to reopen the shuttered mill in December 2018 were shelved last February. Officials at the time cited market conditions for delaying the startup until an unspecified date in 2019. McKinley has ordered "state-of-the-art" machinery and equipment for a startup by next September, company officials said. Additionally, the cogeneration system will be upgraded to efficiently produce green energy. The Nippon cogeneration plant produced steam and electricity for the mill and electricity for sale to green energy buyers. The $85 million biomass facility opened in 2013.