Education

The Mill

Port Townsend Paper produces high-quality paper and cardboard products. These products include linerboard, medium, converting grades, and specialty grades like gumming kraft and laminating kraft. PTPC paper is used to make fruit boxes, pizza boxes, cardboard displays, fiber cement siding, and dozens of other products.

How big is the facility?

The mill produces about 950 tons of paper and market pulp each day. Every year, the mill recycles 250 million pounds of corrugated cardboard from the Northwest. The mill facility occupies 450 acres and has 300 employees.

What kind of paper mill is PTPC?

There are several types of processes used to make paper. Our mill uses the kraft process – the term ‘kraft’ is derived from German and means ‘strong’. In the paper industry, this term is used to describe a chemical process that gives cardboard its strength and ability to stand up to numerous uses. About half of the paper mills in the U.S. use the kraft process.

Economic Impact

How much does the facility contribute to the Jefferson County economy?

In terms of direct expenditures for goods, services and employee compensation, the mill paid out $146 million in 2012.

What are the indirect economic benefits to the region?

The standard method of calculating indirect benefits is to multiply direct benefits by four. Applying this multiplier, the Mill’s indirect economic benefits to the Pacific Northwest amount to approximately $660 million.

What is PTPC’s tax contribution?

The mill contributes over $1 million annually in local and state taxes, which are used to support the fire district, schools, hospital, and the County.

Papermaking

How much of the mill’s energy is produced on site?

The mill is nearly self-sufficient in terms of energy production – purchased electricity represents just 0.1% of energy used at the site.

What raw materials are used at the mill?

Port Townsend Paper’s onsite power plant uses 78% wood-derived biomass fuel to generate energy. Like wind, solar, and hydroelectric energy, biomass energy is renewable and sustainable. In addition, none of the paper products made at the facility are made from whole virgin timber (old growth). Instead, the Port Townsend Paper mill utilizes SFI- and FSC-certified wood chips and OCC (old corrugated containers) to create its products. The majority of the wood chips and all of the sawdust used in the papermaking process are recovered from Northwest sawmills. The majority of the OCC used in the mill’s operation is recycled post-consumer waste. The paper products produced at the mill are, in turn, also recyclable, extending the chain of sustainability. The average paper fiber can be recycled 7 times before breaking down completely.

Where does the OCC originate? How much do you use in a year?

About one-third of the corrugated cardboard (OCC) recycled in Washington state is recycled at PTPC. Not only could the cardboard you recycle end up in a product made at our mill, but OCC used at the Port Townsend Paper mill comes from the rest of the Northwest as well.

Locally, Jefferson and Clallam Counties’ old corrugated cardboard is recycled at the Port Townsend facility. Recycling this cardboard locally minimizes the need to ship it to more remote recycling facilities, which reduces the use of fuels and air emissions from transportation. Each week, the Port Townsend Paper mill recycles enough OCC to fill an entire football field 10 feet deep with cardboard.

What about the wood chips used–where do those come from?

We work with chip suppliers located across the Northwest, including the Olympic Peninsula and Cascade Mountains. We use a variety of softwoods including Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and Cedar sawdust and chips.

Employee Overview

How many employees work at the mill?

The mill employs 300 people, in jobs ranging from paper processing, maintenance, security, to plant management.

What is the relative size of the company, as compared to other employers in the county?

The Mill’s employment figure of 300 makes it the largest provider of permanent full-time positions of any private employer in Jefferson County.

What is the average salary of the workers at the Port Townsend Mill?

The average salary of Port Townsend Paper Company’s workers is $70,000 per year. The mill is a critical source of family-wage jobs in Jefferson County.

How do these salaries compare to the household incomes of Jefferson County?

In Jefferson County, the average household income is approximately $46,000 a year.

Where do these employees live? Are most residents of Port Townsend?

About 1/2 of PTPC’s employees are residents of Port Townsend itself. Another 1/3 of the Mill’s employees live in the nearby Jefferson County communities of Port Hadlock, Chimacum and Irondale.