Machine installation begins as groundbreaking new site takes shape 

Just one year after installing the first steel beam, Graphic Packaging International is advancing construction on its recycled paperboard manufacturing facility in Waco, Texas. In 2023, the company announced its plans to build an industry-leading facility in response to the growing consumer demand for more sustainable packaging. The new site remains on track to ramp up in late 2025. 

The Waco site will leverage the industry’s most modern technology to produce recycled paperboard that will be used to package everyday items ranging from cereal to beauty products. The new paperboard machine is modeled after the company’s state-of-the-art machine in Kalamazoo, Michigan (known as K2), which came online in 2022 and reached full capacity within 12 months. 

Graphic Packaging President and CEO Michael P. Doss recently visited Waco to see firsthand how construction was progressing. “Bringing our Waco paperboard manufacturing facility to life is critical to our Vision 2030 strategy: to deliver the world’s most innovative and sustainable consumer packaging,” Doss said. “Not only will it enable us to drive more circularity across our operations, but it will also amplify our unmatched competitive position across North America.” 

Doubling Down on Circularity 

The Waco facility features three key enhancements from Kalamazoo.  

• The first is incorporation of a blended fiber line, which enables 250,000 tons of recyclable scrap paperboard to be repurposed from Graphic Packaging facilities across the United States.  

• The second is the horizontal drum pulper, which can take the equivalent of up to 15 million paper cups a day and process them into material that is suitable for recycling back into first-line packaging.  

• Finally, the operation will feature a co-generation plant that enables the plant to generate its own energy, using the heat and steam byproducts to dry our paperboard. 

“We are investing significantly to improve the environmental footprint of our paperboard manufacturing facilities with initiatives to expand our renewable fuel and our recycling capability,” Doss said. “We see a bright future in recycled and recyclable packaging, and I’m excited that this facility will play such a meaningful role.” 

Watch the latest from the Waco recycled paperboard facility in this video with insights from Graphic Packaging CEO Mike Doss.