The announced closures will reduce Greif’s overall containerboard capacity by 100,000 tons and its uncoated recycled paperboard capacity by 90,000 tons. | Safakcakir/Shutterstock
Greif is shutting down a recycled paperboard machine in Georgia and shuttering an uncoated recycled paperboard mill in Massachusetts, citing high operating costs and significant capital investment needs.
The closures will reduce Greif’s overall containerboard capacity by 100,000 tons and its uncoated recycled paperboard capacity by 90,000 tons.
The A1 paperboard machine in Austell, Georgia, will shut down by the end of March. It was a non-integrated uncoated recycled paperboard asset and is being taken offline due to increased cost and “declining demand in its major end use markets of furniture, books and binders,” according to a press release.
An end market database maintained by the Foodservice Packaging Institute indicates the Austell mill has been a consumer of mixed paper and OCC, and last year Closed Loop Partners noted the Austell mill had recently started accepting paper cups.
The Fitchburg, Massachusetts, mill will be closed down by May due to the combined pressure of high operating costs and its need for more investment. According to an end market report maintained by the Northeast Recycling Council, the Fitchburg mill consumed both mixed paper and OCC.
CEO Ole Rosgaard said in the press release that the “strategic actions will refine our participation in the market and help us maximize the profitability of our mill network and our overall business portfolio.”
Greif, along with other containerboard producers, has been steadily raising prices for its recycled-fiber end product.