Columbia Pulp, headquartered in Dayton, has reopened its Lyons Ferry plant. This comes more than a year after coronavirus concerns forced the plant to shut down in April 2020.
“We’re excited in taking this next step,” Columbia Pulp CEO John Begley stated in a recent news release.
The restart means more than 90 full-time employees will return to work when the plant is fully operational.
Returning employees are expected to make up about 70% the work force as Columbia Pulp begins resuming operations, administrative services manager Eleanor Specht said.
The mill, situated in the state of Washington, produces pulp based on straw and alfalfa. Columbia Pulp produces straw pulp for paper production with a capacity of 140,000 tpy and employs around 100 people at the Lyons Ferry mill. The mill can also make up to 95,000 tpy of lignin and sugar for co-products for road and agricultural uses such as de-icing, dust control, and spray adjuvants.
The Lyons Ferry mill was commissioned in October 2019 following start of construction in 2017.
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