OLD TOWN, Maine — A pulp mill in Old Town is asking residents to drop off their corrugated cardboard, cereal, and pizza boxes to its facility to be recycled.
ND Paper recently notified its employees and the communities of Orono, Old Town, Milford, and Bradley it will be taking OCC (or old corrugated containers) and recycling them down into a mixture that is used to produce pulp.
Brennan Burks, director of corporate communications for ND Paper, said the product can be used in a number of packaging applications.
The new drop-off bins are on Portland Street near the mill.
Burks said the three types of cardboard that will be accepted are corrugated cardboard boxes, paperboard (like cereal boxes), and pizza boxes with the plastic papers removed. He said the company recycled cardboard at another facility in another state and it was very popular so they are trying it here.
Burks said sustainability and community are important to the company. Fifty years ago there were nine mills on the Penobscot River, and today only ND Paper remains.
"Because the reality is so many communities have seen investments, have seen big manufacturing companies come in. They invest, and they change everything. It seems great, and they’re gone," Burks said. "And that vacuum can be devastating, and so we’re always thinking of ways to be, not only sustainable but more connected and more involved with our community ... and on the flip side, have our community help and invest and be involved with us."
Burks said another reason they're doing the program is OCC prices hit a four-year high back in April, and they had been looking at other options and ways to help sustain the mill.
ND Paper also owns a mill in Rumford, but it is not part of the program.