When you think of Tennessee forestry, you might imagine a happy home for wildlife, shady refuge from a hot summer day or even clean oxygen to breathe. But oftentimes, consumers forget about the products used in everyday life – like paper, toilet tissue and cardboard – that come from Tennessee trees.

Photo credit: Jeff Adkins

“Trees are a 100% renewable, sustainable resource. Just like any other agricultural crop, they are planted, harvested and replanted,” says Tom Midyett, president of the Tennessee Paper Council and vice chairman of the Tennessee Forestry Commission. “Sometimes, this is hard for the general public to see because it takes years for trees to reach maturity instead of just months for row crops.”

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And while that might be true usually, in the spring of 2020, the public took notice of this important agricultural crop, not only when toilet paper, paper towels and other paper goods started disappearing from the shelves but also as consumers started ordering more products online, calling for an increase in cardboard and boxes for shipping.

“The pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of the global supply chain and increased awareness of corrugated packaging as a critical component of shipment and delivery of products,” Midyett says.

See more: Farm Facts: Forestry

Photo credit: Jeff Adkins

Made in Tennessee

In Counce, a community in southwest Tennessee’s Hardin County, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) operates a linerboard mill, which is the inside and outside layer of a corrugated box. Janet Wright, manager at the PCA Counce Mill, says it began production in 1961 under the name Tennessee River Pulp & Paper, and although the name changed, the production is the same.

“The Counce Mill produces linerboard from pine trees. The woodyard at the mill takes the pine logs, removes the bark then chips the wood,” she says. “The wood chips are then broken down into individual fibers in a digester, which is like a large pressure cooker. That material, now called pulp, is washed, cleaned and stored before it’s pumped to the paper machines where it’s formed, pressed and dried into a sheet of paper. The sheet is wound on a reel and cut to customer widths to form rolls.”

She adds that PCA’s forestry division works with local, independent loggers and chip suppliers to purchase the pine logs, and it purchases scrap wood and sawdust from wood processors in the region to use as fuel.

See more: Tree Improvement Program Fosters the Forestry

After the linerboard is produced, it’s typically shipped to converting facilities, or box plants, which convert it into corrugated packaging.

“PCA has converting facilities in Jackson, Knoxville and Gallatin, which have more than 200 employees, in addition to the more than 600 employees at the Counce Mill,” Wright says.

She says that the mill also provides a market for post-consumer corrugated material, which is recycled back into linerboard.

“Except for aluminum cans, corrugated paper is the most recycled product in our nation’s economy,” Wright says.

In response to the pandemic, the mill made sure all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines were implemented to keep employees safe while maintaining production. PCA also completed several capital projects that enhanced production and increased efficiency to keep things moving at a time when people needed paper goods most. And though the Counce Mill doesn’t produce toilet tissue, other Tennessee facilities do, such as Resolute Forest Products in Calhoun.

The PCA Counce Mill turns pine logs into linerboard, which is used to make cardboard boxes. Photo credit: PCA

The Tennessee Forestry Industry Stands Tall

While the pandemic highlighted the importance of paper products in everyday life for consumers, Tennessee’s forestry industry has always been a key contributor to the state’s overall agriculture industry.

In fact, forestry contributes $24 billion annually to the Tennessee economy, or 2.7% of the total economic impact. The sector employs 98,154 Tennesseans, and every one job in pulp and paper supports three jobs in other industries.

Midyett says the Tennessee Paper Council, Tennessee Forestry Commission and the Department of Forestry help support the industry for continued strength in aspects including legislation, education, outreach programs and more.

Learn more about Tennessee’s forestry industry and products derived from trees at tn.gov/agriculture/forestry.