Soundview Relights Marcal Sign at New Jersey Tissue Mill

The Marcal tissue mill sign in Elmwood Park, N.J., USA, came back to life recently, after being turned off for almost five years. Soundview Paper Co., which acquired the Marcal Paper Mills in April 2012, wanted to have the sign lighted for the 2014 Super Bowl at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. According to a report by a local newspaper, The Record, the Marcal sign was erected in 1948 and is a prominent feature for motorists traveling on Route 80. The plant’s former owner turned the sign off in 2009, and during the past month, Soundview has been refurbishing it.

Relighting the sign also was a way to celebrate Soundview’s efforts to rebuild the Marcal name, the brand of the company’s toilet tissue, paper towels, and facial products, Soundview President and CEO George Wurtz said in the newspaper article.

Since purchasing the financially struggling Marcal for an undisclosed sum, Soundview, part of Atlas Holdings, has been stabilizing the company and positioning it for growth, Wurtz said. Soundview abandoned the Small Steps branding that the former owner had instituted, and has redesigned the products’ packaging and reopened old channels of distribution, such as producing private-label paper towels for The Home Depot.

Since the purchase, Soundview was awarded $25.4 million in tax credits for the mill from the state Economic Development Authority, through the Grow New Jersey Program, that helped retain 500 jobs. During the past 20 months, Soundview has made nearly $10 million in improvements at the plant. It has also boosted productivity by 20% and sales have increased 19%, Wurtz noted.

Marcal ran into financial difficulty in 2006, and filed for Chapter 11 protection. It was subsequently bought by Highland Capital Management in 2008. The company debuted Marcal Small Steps, made from 100% recycled material, in December of that year. Soundview’s view that this repositioning was supposed to signify taking "small steps" to a healthier environment, was actually a misstep, John McLean, Soundview’s SVP of sales and marketing, was quoted in the article.