© 2024 Maine Public

Bangor Studio/Membership Department
63 Texas Ave.
Bangor, ME 04401

Lewiston Studio
1450 Lisbon St.
Lewiston, ME 04240

Portland Studio
323 Marginal Way
Portland, ME 04101

Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.
The Rural Maine Reporting Project is made possible through the generous support of the Betterment Fund.

Madison company begins production of first ever wood fiber insulation in North America

The headquarters of TimberHP, located at the old paper mill in Madison. TimberHP is the first company in North America to offer wood fiber insulation.
Kaitlyn Budion
/
Maine Public Radio
The headquarters of TimberHP, located at the old paper mill in Madison. TimberHP is the first company in North America to offer wood fiber insulation.

TimberHP, the first company in North America to offer wood fiber insulation, celebrated the start of production with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its headquarters in Madison Friday.

The company hopes to support Maine's forest products industry by producing a sustainable product. In the past, paper mills used wood chips from manufacturing to create paper. But as mills have gone out of business, there is no longer a market for the wood waste. TimberHP says it can fill that gap in the industry.

It also touts wood fiber insulation as more effective than other current options to insulate buildings.

Sen. Susan Collins says the company's launch is a win-win-win for the former mill town.

Senator Susan Collins at TimberHP's ribbon-cutting ceremony in Madison on Friday.
Senator Susan Collins
Senator Susan Collins at TimberHP's ribbon-cutting ceremony in Madison on Friday.

"But how wonderful it is that we're going to be sustaining and creating Maine jobs, saving consumers money on their heating bills, reducing emissions and sequestering carbon to combat climate change, all with one product," Collins said.

The company will eventually make three forms of the insulation. Right now, renovations at the mill are complete for production of the loose-fill insulation. The company has started production, but is still in it's testing phase and has not begun distribution.

TimberHP expects to begin producing the other two products later this year.

Congressman Jared Golden says the landmark moment is a success for all of Maine.

"What I see here is so much more than a business making a new kind of insulation," Golden said. "It's a mill that was once shuttered and empty, now back in production. A business headquartered in Maine, majority owned by Mainers, 100 percent American owned. Using Maine wood cut by Maine loggers hauled by Maine drivers to make a product in Maine by Mainers for Mainers."

Kaitlyn Budion is Maine Public’s Bangor correspondent, joining the reporting team after several years working in print journalism.