Paper Company Finds that Green Makes Good Business Sense

Grays Harbor Paper went under in 1992, and not just jobs were lost – as families made hard choices and were forced to move, some committed suicide. 600 people in the nearby rural cities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen lost their jobs. Things were bleak overall, and Bill Quigg had quite a task in front of him when he bought the company in 1993.

That’s why he decided to make a big change: the traditional paper industry wasn’t working in these small logging towns, partially because of the protected status of the endangered spotted owl, which calls the forests in this area of Washington state home. Where workers once cursed the owl for putting them out of work, Quigg saw a solution: using 100 percent recycled paper instead of cutting down trees. And, he didn’t stop there – the plant is now entirely powered by biomass fuel derived from logging waste.

Quigg isn’t doing it for the earth. It’s all about money. From Mother Jones:

“Politically I am on the right side of Genghis Khan,” says Quigg. “I’m not a lefty wacko.” Nevertheless, “We make the greenest products, and we make them with the greenest fuel,” he enthusiastically boasts. “Nobody else does that. We have the audacity to think we can change the market. If you buy local and smarter, you save a tremendous amount of fossil fuel.”

Regardless of Quigg’s motivations, Grays Harbor Paper stands to be an excellent model for green practices reviving depressed rural areas as well as green business practices in general. As other companies watch, perhaps down the line we’ll see more following the same path to being successful and eco-friendly at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive, folks!

Link [Mother Jones]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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