New Pennsylvania Recycled Pulp Mill Under Construction

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The construction of Empire Recycled Fiber mill in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania is scheduled to commence this fall. The work on the mill project had started almost a year ago. The financing for the project is expected to close during Q3 2020. The construction works may take 12-14 months, thus gearing up for a 2022 startup. Upon full operations, the plant will employ approximately 110 full-time manufacturing employees.

According to company press release, the mill will be constructed at an investment of $125 million. The facility will take in over 500,000 tons per year of recovered fiber and produce almost 440,000 tons per year of recycled paper pulp to be used as raw material by paper manufacturers.

ALSO READ:

Recovered Fiber Exports Posted Historic Decline

Resolute Announces Sale of Fairmont Recycled Pulp Mill

The mill will source recovered fiber from nearby places, primarily from eastern and central Pennsylvania. In addition, the company will look to New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and New York as secondary sourcing areas. The products manufactured at the mill will be mainly shipped to Chinese markets, as the restrictions imposed by that country are not applicable to processed materials made from recovered fiber.

As per trade data, the pulp exports from the U.S. to China skyrocketed from 16,000 short tons in 2018 to nearly 239,000 short tons in 2019. The recycled pulp shipments have totalled 94,000 short tons in the initial four-month period this year.