Tranlin, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of a leading Chinese pulp and paper company, recently broke ground today on its first U.S. operation, a $2 billion advanced manufacturing facility. Tranlin’s investment is located in Chesterfield, Virginia and will generate more than 2,000 direct jobs in Virginia by 2020. “The Tranlin facility in Chesterfield will create thousands of jobs and millions in new agriculture revenues, all of which will support our shared vision for a stronger new Virginia economy. I am thrilled to help break ground on a project that will have enormous economic development implications for our entire Commonwealth,” said Governor McAuliffe about the project. Tranlin’s Chesterfield County facility will use the company’s innovative, proprietary technology to produce tree-free, natural color, straw fiber paper tissue products made exclusively from agricultural field waste such as wheat straw and corn stalks.
In addition, Tranlin will produce humus-based organic fertilizer products using residues from the papermaking process. Environmental sustainability is deeply embedded in Tranlin’s culture and guides the company’s ongoing pursuit of innovation and technological advancement. Tranlin’s products are a positive contribution to both American consumers and the agricultural sector.
The company’s manufacturing process is referred to as the “Golden Circle” because the straw paper manufacturing process creates a fully renewable and sustainable loop. At the top of the circle, agricultural byproducts such as wheat and corn stalks are used as raw material to make paper products that include bath, kitchen, facial and travel tissue, as well as tableware. Then residues from the papermaking process are refined into highly effective, humus-based organic fertilizer. The circle is complete when this fertilizer is ultimately used to grow crops, often requiring less water, chemical fertilizer and pesticides than traditional fertilizers. “We are even more confident now than we were a year ago that our project is being built on a solid foundation that will allow it to be successful in Chesterfield, Virginia,” said Hongfa Li, the Chairman and President of Shandong Tranlin Paper Company Limited.
Tranlin’s purchase of stalks and straw from corn and small grain producers creates a new market for agricultural residuals that are typically left in the field as waste. Based on the agricultural supply chain opportunities associated with the project, the economic benefit to farmers in this region alone could exceed $50 million per year once the company is operating at full capacity. Tranlin has already begun working with many farmers in the region to procure needed agricultural products for manufacturing operations.
