For nearly 40 years, the von Drehle Corporation has been committed to environmentally sound production methods that ensure the majority of our products meet or exceed the guidelines defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for post-consumer content. We are able to produce high-quality paper products responsibly and consistently with our modern, efficient equipment and facilities. Our innovative methods make us an industry leader in environmental conservation and responsibility.
The von Drehle Paper Mill
Our paper mill in Cordova, North Carolina, spans over 100 acres and is home to two paper machines that can produce more than 50,000 tons of quality towel and tissue parent rolls each year. Not a single tree has been harvested to supply our paper mill: every parent roll is made from 100 percent recycled paper fiber that contains approximately 60 percent post-consumer content. This prevents thousands of tons of waste paper from ending up in landfills each year, and it has earned our mill the classification as a “Recycling Center” from the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources.
Greener Deinking and Cleaning
Unlike other facilities that remove clays, inks and other impurities from post-consumer waste and recycled fiber using harsh chemicals that create a host of environmental problems, we use more eco-friendly methods in our deinking facility. The state-of-the-art system prevents waste paper from ending up in landfills and uses 90 percent less water than the industry average, resulting in savings of nearly 400,000,000 gallons of water per year.
Sludge Solutions
Sludge is a by-product of the cleaning and deinking process. Sludge is a mixture of ash, clay and the inks removed from waste paper, and many paper mills simply dump it into landfills. Von Drehle has a better solution – we spread the sludge on large tracts of land and use it to grow cover crops. The process improves the soil while diverting nearly 2,500 dump trucks of sludge per year from landfills.
We are committed to being good stewards of our environment and reducing waste every step of the way. To learn more about our environmental initiatives and how they result in lower costs to our customers, contact us today!