DAYTON—Columbia Pulp LLC has resumed operation of its first-of-its-kind mill near Dayton, Wash. ​Idled between April, 2020 and June, 2021 due to the pandemic, the company used that time to implement numerous process improvements and has resumed production.

Columbia Pulp is now steadily increasing wet lap production and improving quality for delivery to customers. ​In addition to a sustainability story, the company has created over one hundred family-wage jobs while providing a revenue boost for local farmers and businesses.

Columbia Gold fiber has a carbon footprint approximately half that of conventional pulp. The pulp mill converts residual wheat straw into several valuable products with the most prominent being Columbia Gold fiber for papermaking and molding applications. Diverting the residual straw into the manufacture of an alternative pulp fiber can mitigate the annual burning of over 100,000 acres. The mill site is environmentally friendly, generating neither solid waste that would go to landfill nor liquid effluent to a river.

Washington and Oregon state legislatures recognizing the environmental attributes of alternative-fiber have modified plastic single-use bag ban laws to include wheat straw fiber with other environmentally-friendly alternative materials. California and Hawaii are considering similar changes. Columbia Pulp is also pursuing a Salmon-Safe certification for its facility and aligns with the ancient and endangered forest protection organization Canopy (www.canopyplanet.org), to enable partnerships with consumer product groups and manufacturers.

The pulp mill production is being ramped up at five to ten percent per week with an emphasis on continuous quality improvement in deliveries of Columbia Gold to several customers. Columbia Gold can be considered interchangeable with conventional hardwood fibers, is fully recyclable, is clean and consistent, is FDA compliant, and has a beautiful golden shade well-suited for numerous applications.

To learn more about Columbia Pulp please visit https://columbiapulp.com/contact-us/.