Recycling Market Capacity Oregon is a net importer of OCC for recycling. Five large Oregon paper mills, Willamette Industries in Millersburg, Georgia Pacific in Toledo, Weyerhaeuser in Springfield and North Bend, and International Paper in Gardiner use about one million tons of OCC each year in producing new linerboard, medium and kraft paper. The total amount of OCC used in these mills is almost 3 times the total amount of OCC generated in Oregon each year. In addition, a number of large paper mills in Washington and British Columbia can also use OCC generated in Oregon. In order to have an adequate supply of OCC Pacific Northwest mills also need to obtain material from distant sources.
Some supply comes from as far away as the Midwest and Southern California.
Increasing the collection, recovering some of the 137,000 tons of OCC still disposed of in Oregon waste, would benefit local mills. Local paper would replace material from more distance sources and the mills could avoid having to pay the greater transportation costs. Large suppliers of OCC, such as the larger commercial generators or collectors, may receive substantially higher prices from paper dealers or directly from the mills. The value of OCC to the mills and paper brokers varies with economic conditions. Environmental Factors Recycling is preferable to disposal.