Working as Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper, the mill is delving into wood-based bioproducts, fuels and plastics
Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper has modified names many instances over the past 100 years, however the innovation, reliance, and stability of the mill stay the identical.
“I feel it speaks to the sustainability of the forest merchandise trade,” mentioned firm president Kent Ramsay at a Sept. 12 occasion celebrating the plant’s milestone anniversary. “It is not like a mine the place it runs out and also you shut it down. It is sustainability to take a product and alter route. Then make totally different different merchandise and make investments.
“And it shows that the history and the decision-making of the founders of this mill were pretty astute. Because, if you think about it, all that time from ground wood pallets to different types of paper through all the trials, tribulations and different parts of it, the investments in that you don’t see a 100-year-old facility. You see a lot of investment and a lot of money and that economic activity is what’s created a lot of the base of Thunder Bay and provided for a lot of families over that generation.”
The plant, which has beforehand carried the Resolute and Bowater names, was offered final 12 months by Resolute Forest Merchandise to Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings.
A landmark on Thunder Bay’s skyline, the mill is taken into account a number one producer of northern bleached softwood kraft and northern bleached hardwood kraft pulp, paper, newsprint and listing.
Acknowledged as one of many largest pulp and paper mills on the earth, Thunder Bay’s mill continues to be producing acres of product 12 months after 12 months, increasing into new markets, regardless of new know-how advances threatening to break down the trade.
“The invention of the internet draining the paper base has resulted in its own downsizing. I think you see that contraction has stopped. And over the last number of years, we’ve been able to start to grow the business back again,” Ramsay defined.
“I think you’re going to see a bit of a renaissance as we start to look at bioproducts and biofuels and other products that come. Frankly, paper isn’t going away. The new generation likes a book and that’s a good thing. Everybody buy a book and read a book because you get to put the phone away and it gets to give you a break from that.”
He foretells the subsequent 100 years of innovation on the mill will profoundly be within the sustainability of bioproducts. The mill has transitioned into the inexperienced economic system by manufacturing extra bioplastics and biofuels, which he admits not too many take into consideration.
“We make tall oil, which has changed into a biodiesel. That is already occurring. We make turpentine, however that turpentine is made into fragrances and flavours. It is made into all kinds of merchandise that folks do not realize,” Ramsay mentioned.
“But they use it every day when they go shopping. You buy a lemon meringue pie at one of the grocery stores and, by and large, the flavour of lemon comes from turpentine molecule that comes from the forest and comes from a tree.”
The ceremony held on the mill welcomed a number of generations of workers, stakeholders, and dignitaries.
Fort William First Nation Chief Michelle Solomon provided her congratulations for having the ability to attend the celebration whereas additionally sharing among the extra difficult historical past between the First Nation and the mill over the past 100 years.
“I was looking at the book that was shared and all that has happened over 100 years and it would not be right for me to come here and not acknowledge that there’s a whole other side to this story across the river,” mentioned Solomon.
She famous how the connection between each events has modified. Regardless that she acknowledged there’s room for enchancment, a path is working collectively as neighbours.
“I really want to acknowledge your celebration here today and all the people who have worked here over all these years. The hard work. There are people here that have retired from here and spent a lifetime working here and how that has contributed to their families, their children, their grandchildren and to the community and economy of the City of Thunder Bay,” she mirrored.
Kevin Holland, the newly minted affiliate minister of forestry and forest merchandise, acknowledged the success story of the Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper mill as an financial powerhouse in Thunder Bay and the area.
“Just a multitude of people that have contributed to and shared in the success of this organization. And, it’s so exciting to see everybody gathered here. This is an example of what we can accomplish when we work together,” mentioned Holland.
“The forest industry has deep roots in our history and Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper has been at the heart of it all, contributing to the prosperity of the countless families, supporting local businesses and fuelling the progress for the entire region.”
