Philip D. Brown

Richmond County Daily Journal

Paper-producing von Drehle Corporation in Cordova will be able to increase its production capacity with improvements to Rockingham’s wastewater treatment plant, site manager Joe Pankrazz said last week.

On Tuesday the city council voted unanimously vote to award a contract to upgrade the city’s wastewater treatment plant aeration basin.

“What that allows us to do is expand the capacity of the plant,” Pankrazz said.

He explained two facets are being added to the plant, which will roughly double the plant’s production output and add jobs in the City of Rockingham.

“Number one, we’re going to be processing lower grades of wastepaper,” Pankrazz said.

He explained the plant is currently using pre-consumer waste paper, or waste that is produced during the manufacturing process. It uses corrugated paper and other sources.

“This expansion will allow us to add a de-inking process to our production, so we can handle office waste and other types of lower grades of waste,” he said.

The second aspect of the company’s expansion being facilitated by the wastewater decision is the addition of a second paper machine, and the retooling of the first paper machine at the plant.

This will allow the company to make heavier weight paper, like paper towels, he said.

“This will allow us to produce about twice as much at this plant,” Pankrazz said. “It will mean the difference between where we are producing 90 tons now, we’ll be able to produce 190 tons.”

Pankrazz said this expansion made room for 22 additional workers at the plant, and all but five or six of those positions have been filled.

Von Drehle Corporation is based in Hickory, and took over its Rockingham facility after acquiring it from Laurel Hill Mills about two years ago.

According to von Drehle’s website, it currently produces light grades of paper, like tissue and toilet paper.

“von Drehle has been a welcome addition to the industrial community in Richmond County,” said Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin. “They’ve been a good corporate citizen in the short time they’ve been here. They came to us with their plans for expansion, and needed to have some upgrades to our wastewater treatment facility. We look forward to those types of conversations.”

McLaurin said von Drehle has held up its end of the deal and added the positions it said it would, and the city intends to carry out its end of the deal.

“Over the past 20 years, Rockingham has made some pretty substantial upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant, so that it can handle the output from commercial, residential and industrial treatment that’s needed in this area,” he said. “We’re trying to be proactive, and right now the plant is only operating at about 50 percent capacity, and we could easily earn relicensing to handle more.”

McLaurin also pointed out von Drehle is not the only entity that benefits from upgrades to the city’s facility.

Pine Hills Industrial Park on Highway 177 is also hooked into Rockingham’s wastewater system, he said. As a public health issue, the city is seeking funding to expand sewer service to homes in East Rockingham.

Rockingham recently entered into an agreement to handle wastewater from Hamlet, and city council received a report on a feasibility study by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to expand its system to include wastewater from Ellerbe.