| Big Island Key Statistics: |
| Location: | Big Island, Virginia, Bedford County |
| Mill Contact: | Customer Service (434) 299-7360 |
| Size of operation: | 900 acres |
| Number of employees: | 350 |
| Principal markets for products: | Domestic and export box plants |
| Purchase of local goods and services: | $64 million annually (includes wood, payroll, taxes, etc.) |
| Significant Mill Improvements: |
| 1993 | Built 30-acre industrial landfill |
| 1994 | Purchased two meter wastewater sludge belt filter press |
| 1995 | Rebuilt No.1 machine |
| 1996 | Expansion project completed including 1,000 tons per day (tpd) old corrugated containers (OCC) plant and 650 tpd recycled linerboard machine |
| 2000 | Completed project to reduce air emissions by capturing gases from the pulping and evaporating process |
| Key Mill Dates: |
| 1891 | Mill start-up |
| 1959 | Installed first machine in the country built specifically for making corrugating medium for boxes |
| 1990 | Acquired by Georgia-Pacific |
| 1995 | Rebuilt No.1 machine, including press replacement, stock preparation improvements and electronic control grades |
| 1996 | Start-up of No. 4 machine (recycled linerboard mill expansion) |
For more than a century, the Big Island containerboard mill has been known for its use of innovative technology. As early as 1959, the Big Island containerboard mill installed the first machine in the country built specifically for the production of corrugating medium. Big Island's medium machine is one of the fastest in the country, producing over 2,000 feet of medium per minute. Big Island was the first North American mill to install an extended nip press to increase the density of the medium substrate. And, most recently, the mill began the operation of an 800 tpd old corrugated container (OCC) recycled linerboard machine known as "Trailblazer," and a 1,100 tpd OCC recycled fiber plant.