Business and Economy

Old Town Mill will be closed for extended shutdown

Maine Public | By Patty Wight

Published March 29, 2023 at 3:54 PM EDT

Facebook
LinkedIn
Email

For about a month, mill owner ND Paper has asked for corrugated cardboard, food packaging, pizza boxes, and other materials from residents of four surrounding communities: Old Town, Orono, Milford and Bradley. The company is using the donations to create recycled pulp, which is then sent out to other manufacturers to create cardboard products.

ND Paper is closing its mill in Old Town for an extended shutdown beginning in mid-April.

A spokesperson for ND Paper Jay Capron says the temporary shutdown is needed because of the high cost of energy and fiber, as well as market conditions.

Nearly two-hundred people work at the mill. Capron says some have been offered positions at the company's mill in Rumford and at other locations.

Capron says ND Paper will continue to evaluate market conditions for a potential restart.

The Old Town Mill reopened in 2019 after it was purchased by ND Paper, a subsidiary of Chinese-owned Nine Dragons Paper. It had been shuttered for nearly four years.