Biron Mill
Biron Mill is a pulp mill and paper mill located in the US town of Biron, Wisconsin, in the outskirts of Wisconsin Rapids. Now part of Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited, the mill passed through many hands in its history including Consolidated Papers, Stora Enso purchased in 2000, who demerged its North American division in 2007 through a sale to NewPage, Catalyst Paper purchased the mill in 2015 before selling to ND Paper in 2018. The mill has two paper machines which produce brown packaging paper. The mill has 315 full time employees as of April of 2023[1] down from 425 employees as of 2015.
| Biron Mill | |
|---|---|
  Location of Biron Mill | |
| Built | 1895 |
| Location | Biron, Wisconsin, United States |
| Coordinates | 44.4254°N 89.7837°W |
| Industry | Pulp and paper |
| Products | Brown Packaging Paper |
| Employees | 315 (2023) |
| Owner(s) | Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited |
History
Before the Biron Paper Mill existed on the land there stood a saw mill which was torn down then the mill was built. Biron Mill was established in 1895 by the Grand Rapids Pulp and Paper Company. It originally focused on production of wallpaper. They also produced newsprint. In 1911 Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company acquired the mill which became Consolidated Papers in 1962. In 1923 a 3rd paper machine was added to the mill. The production of newsprint was stopped in the 1930s. Coaters were added to the newer machine and the mill began to produce lightweight coated printing paper. In the 1940s one of the older machines was converted to make paperboard which was manufactured to government standards and used as paper for gliders in WWII. The mill has seen 6 paper machines in their history 4 of which have been removed.
New Beginnings
In 2022 the mill discontinued making white paper on their smaller paper machine(B25) and began to make brown packaging paper using recycled materials but continued to make white kraft paper on their larger machine(B26) until April of 2023. The Biron mill produced its last reel of white kraft paper on April 1st of 2023 and produces all brown packaging paper.
Biron's B25 machine produces about 270,000 short tons of corrugating medium and linerboard yearly. The B26 machine has the capacity to produce 500,000 short tons of packaging paper yearly.[2] The conversion from white paper to brown paper included the construction of two different Old Corrugated Container(OCC) plants which takes landfill bound waste cardboard and produces renewable fiber-based pulp. The mill now houses a 700 ton OCC plant and a 1400 ton OCC plant.
References
- "Biron Division". ND Paper. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- Clips, Midland Paper (2022-03-22). "ND Paper Continues Transformation with Growth in Packaging Grades at Biron Division". Midland Paper. Retrieved 2023-04-06.