Middletown Paperboard Mill closed without warning Oct. 21. The mill has been owned by the Cranford, N.J.-based Newark Group since 1972. The mill has been in existence since 1857. While the Middletown, Ohio mill permanently closed, the company will continue to operate its Franklin, Ohio, boxboard plant, which operates close to the now-closed facility.
A statement from the company said the Middletown mill had been "a consistent producer of many grades of recycled paperboard."
"Specialty grades such as 'match stem' and 'biscuit board,' which were mainstays of the mill, are no longer in great demand," the statement said.
According to the statement, new paperboard grades are "slow to develop" and are better run at other company mills "that have focused and already attained world-class product and productivity status in them."