Biron Paper Mill, Wisconsin

This old paper mill in Biron, Wisconsin, with its own dam on the Wisconsin River, has changed hands a few times in the past few decades. In 2019, it was purchased by ND Paper, and converted into a plant to produce cardboard for boxes. ND Paper is part of Nine Dragons Limited, a Chinese company, based in Hong Kong, and is the largest containerboard maker in Asia. The owner, Zhang Yin, became “the richest person in China” by turning scrap paper and cardboard shipped from the US to China into boxes (which were then used, at least partially, to ship products made in China back to the USA). In 2018, the Chinese government limited the import of scrap from the USA, and so now Nine Dragons is expanding its presence in the US, to export pulp for its plants in China, and to produce paper and containerboard within the USA, including at its newly acquired mills in Rumford, Maine, Old Town Maine, and West Virginia.