Unique circular reclaimed water system online at Green Bay Packaging Paper Mill
Brown County, the City of Green Bay, Green Bay Packaging, and NEW Water are happy to announce that a first-of-its-kind, circular reclaimed water system at the new Green Bay Packaging Paper Mill is now online.
“This investment sends a strong message to the community that Green Bay Packaging is committed to Brown County and protecting our water quality,” said Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach.
This unique reclaimed water system is the first in the state of Wisconsin. It allows the mill to operate with the water it needs without discharging a single drop of wastewater into the Fox River.
“In addition to safety, environmental sustainability has always been at the core of Green Bay Packaging’s values. Our goal is to operate the most environmentally friendly mill in the United States. Water cleanliness in the Fox River watershed is one of our primary focuses with our sustainability efforts,” said Green Bay Packaging Vice President–Mill Operations, Matt Szymanski.
The mill's wastewater is discharged to NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, where it is treated and returned back to the company through an underground piping system.
“Creative solutions like this will be critical to the future of protecting water,” said Tom Sigmund, Executive Director of NEW Water. “This initiative represents sustainability in action, and we are proud to be a part of it.”
The new Green Bay Packaging recycled paper mill started production in March of this year. The expanded production capabilities of the new mill are a great economic benefit to Northeast Wisconsin, while significantly reducing the environmental footprint of the operation. The new mill operates within a state-of-the-art complex that utilizes methane from the biological reactor to offset natural gas demand, operates with the most energy efficient papermaking equipment available, and recycles water with a leading edge reclaimed water system.
In 2018, Brown County invested $5 million to create the Fox River Papermaking Corridor, allowing for the retention of hundreds of family-supporting jobs, creating a thousand new construction jobs, providing environmental benefits to our community, and making high-speed Internet available to papermaking facilities and their subsidiaries throughout the corridor.
Watch the virtual launch of the reclaimed water system from November 3, 2021.
Learn more about Green Bay Packaging >>