In the more than six months since the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill that was the heart of the Haywood County town of Canton, residents have worked to find a way forward.
The mill’s shutdown meant more than 1,000 people lost their jobs. For those workers, their families and much of the region, uncertainty loomed large.
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said that while it’s been a difficult past few years between the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and the devastating floods of 2021, the town is forging ahead.
“We have and will continue to be a town that has a toughness to it and a grit,” Smathers said in an interview Thursday. “But also I realize, especially during the holidays for many people, that you may smile but there's a lot of pain and anxiety and unknowns behind those smiles. I think that's [true] for a lot of Americans right now. I think a lot of us are putting on brave faces and finding our way forward.”
In the months since the mill’s closure, there have been some sources of light.
The GetCovered WNC/Milltown Health Care Initiative helped former mill workers find and pay for health care, including reimbursement of up to $500 per family member per month for health insurance premiums. The program was funded by the Dogwood Health Trust and the Haywood Healthcare Foundation.
County economic development director David Francis called the project “a shining example of community resilience and compassion.”
Smathers pointed to the work being done by Haywood Community College and others to help laid-off workers find new jobs or learn new skills.
“A lot of these workers had experience. They had the work ethic. But they didn't have the pieces of paper on the wall,” Smathers said. “And for better for worse, even in manufacturing, that matters. And so, we're trying to do what we can to make sure that they have training, follow-up training, get it paid for.”
Many workers have found new jobs, Smathers said, even though they may commute longer and make less than they did at their well-paying jobs at the paper mill.
“I also think they're entering jobs that are treating them with more respect and dignity,” Smathers said. “And that's important for workers. Any place where you work, no matter where it is, you want to be treated with dignity and respect. And so I'm hearing that from mill workers.”
Uncertainty looms not just for the former workers but also for the environment, the town and the mill itself.
After more than a century of operations, it will take time to assess the full impact of the mill on the local environment, experts told the Smoky Mountain News earlier this year. Some of those impacts may be positive, such as the eventual return of different species of wildlife downstream from the mill as the water quality improves.
Even so, Pactiv Evergreen continued to rack up environmental violations months after having shut down its Canton operations in June. The company received its latest wastewater violation from the state Department of Environmental Quality in October, and earlier this month, the company received a violation for its solid waste management at an onsite landfill.
From May 2021 to November 2023, the mill had received 17 violations from the Department of Environmental Quality, according to the Smoky Mountain News.
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Josh Kastrinsky said the state will continue to monitor the site.
“DEQ remains focused on oversight of the permit requirements, addressing existing contamination onsite and assessment of potential environmental impacts on the site beyond closure,” Kastrinsky said in a statement.
“That includes determining actions to maintain compliance, identify required remediation activities and to appropriately address the end of plant operations.”
The town of Canton, meanwhile, is working to draft a plan for a new wastewater treatment plant. Pactiv Evergreen handled Canton’s wastewater treatment for decades, but the arrangement will end in 2025. The town received more than $40 million in federal funding for the construction of a new treatment plant. A recently-passed budget ordinance outlined the allocation of that money, but many details, including the location of the plant, are yet to be determined.
Pactiv Evergreen also faced calls from state officials, including Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Attorney General Josh Stein (D), to return $12 million the company received as part of an incentive package to create and maintain jobs in the region. Under a 2015 deal with the state, the company, which was previously known as Blue Ridge Paper Products, was required to employ at least 800 full-time employees for at least 10 years or forfeit the funds.
Olivia Weidie, a spokeswoman for Stein, said in a statement that the attorney general “will continue to work on behalf of the residents of Canton and North Carolina’s taxpayers.” She did not say whether Stein may eventually take legal action over the matter.
“Our office has engaged in ongoing discussions with Pactiv, local stakeholders, the Department of Commerce, and the Governor’s Office over the course of the last eight months regarding the future of the property and repayment of the JMAC grant,” Weidie said. “Our position continues to be that Pactiv’s decision to close the paper mill constituted a breach of the JMAC agreement that requires repayment of the full $12 million it received in incentives.”
Jordan Monaghan, a spokesperson for Cooper, said in a statement that the governor's office "continues to engage with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, local officials and Pactiv to reach a resolution that best supports the needs of the community, including the repayment of state incentive funds."
Pactiv Evergreen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BPR.
Smathers credited bipartisan cooperation with the progress that has been made so far in rebuilding Canton and said that residents are “smiling when we can, putting one boot in front of the other.”
“We haven't let this paralyze us,” he said. “We know better days are ahead.”
This story has been updated to include statements from the offices of Stein, Cooper and DEQ received after initial publication.
