Georgia-Pacific’s Plattsburgh mill invests in bath tissue production

Despite the pandemic, it cannot be denied that 2020 is a great year for companies that sell toilet paper, including Georgia-Pacific.

Its paper mill in Plattsburgh, NY, was open 24/7 when its products started to fall off the shelves in March of this year.

In an interview with the Press-Republican, Kelly Ferguson, GP’s senior director of public affairs and communications said, “It isn’t like we could find more hours to operate; however, we completed an investment at the mill in late 2019 that increased the mill’s ability to produce more than 30 percent more bath tissue”.

“That was excellent timing for the mill to be able to meet the increased demand that came along with the pandemic,” she added.

The Plattsburgh plant was acquired by Georgia-Pacific in 1963 and, at the time, manufactured toilet paper and napkins for fast-service restaurants.

Currently, the mill focus exclusively on the production of Northern Ultra Plush bath tissue and distributes its products to several states in the country.

“The Plattsburgh mill has the ability to ship directly to some retail store customers locally in the northeast, but much of it is sent to distribution centers across the U.S.”, Ferguson said to the Press-Republican. “So, you can likely find (Plattsburgh-made) tissue from northern Maine to southern California.”

Today the factory has about 85 employees and, although the workforce was not affected by Covid-19, Ferguson said the factory added safety precautions.

“I think most people would say that there’s been nothing normal about 2020,” Ferguson said. “As a mill and as a company, we’ve never experienced the interest and demand for our bath tissue as we have seen since the pandemic began”.

“We make an essential product, and our employees are essential workers. We are proud of all the work they do every day to keep product on the store shelves”, she concluded.

You can check the full story in the Press Republican website.