Solvay Announces Plan to Expand Mill

Early this week Solvay Paperboard announced a $100 million expansion of its New York paperboard mill. The expansion will be the company's second in six years.

Solvay, located in the Syracuse, N.Y., area, expects to break ground on the project toward the beginning of next year with production beginning the following year.

The expansion will bring to three the number of paper machines it will run at the facility. The new machine will increase the mill's capacity by 500 tons per day. The company recently completed its first expansion, expanding production at the mill to around 1,200 tons of linerboard per day. The expansion has helped drive the market for old corrugated throughout the East Coast.

Solvay Paperboard will request support from the county's Industrial Development Agency for the project. The project will be financed by tax-exempt bonds issued by the agency.

Solvay Paperboard began making linerboard for corrugated boxes in 1994 in Solvay.

Last year, it spent $130 million to double its size, to more than double its production capacity to 1,200.

Solvay Paperboard is one of the largest consumers of recovered fiber in the Northeastern United States.