Old Town Pulp and Paper Mill, Maine

The paper pulp mill in Old Town, on the Penobscot River, operated for nearly 130 years before closing in 2015. In 2019, it was purchased by ND Paper, and converted into a plant to produce unbleached softwood kraft pulp, which is shipped to China. ND Paper is part of Nine Dragons Limited, a Chinese company, based in Hong Kong, and the largest containerboard maker in Asia. Its 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, to the USA). In 2018, the Chinese government banned 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. It also produces paper and containerboard within the USA, including at the paper mill in Rumford, Maine, which it also has acquired, along with mills in West Virginia and Wisconsin. The Old Town plant, shuttered for a few years and expected to be closed forever, as has occurred at other mills around the state, now employs around 130 people, still a small amount for a mill of its size and potential capacity.