Just two days before the three-year anniversary of the announcement that the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton would close, Canton’s governing board took a decisive step toward securing both its wastewater infrastructure and its economic future by approving a complex land purchase that will place key portions of the former paper mill site under municipal control.

As the sun set over Canton on Feb. 11, the scene at the town’s makeshift municipal building more closely resembled that of a trendy big-city nightclub. More than 100 people had lined up outside, hoping to join the other 49 people who’d pushed the modular double-wide’s fire code to its absolute limit by making it inside. Their minds weren’t focused on drinks or dancing, but instead on data — Big Data, and its effect on small towns. 

When the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton closed after more than a century of operations in June 2023, the shockwaves went far beyond the hundreds of workers who lost their jobs.

In a move more than a half-century in the making, the Town of Canton has announced the pending purchase of a key parcel of land where it plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art flood-proof wastewater treatment plant — ending a long chapter of dependence on a private system operated by the now-shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and setting the stage for a bold economic redevelopment of the historic site.

After losing roughly $200 million in valuation due to the closing of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene, Haywood County Commissioners will entertain a 2025-26 budget that’s thin as can be. 

Canton’s toilets will continue to flush thanks to an agreement born of urgency but put on paper with cooperation and cautious optimism.

Following up on a campaign promise he made just over a year ago, newly-elected North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson stood within eyeshot of what used to be Pactiv Evergreen’s Canton paper mill to remind the company that he wasn’t going to ease up on a lawsuit filed by his predecessor, now-Gov. Josh Stein.

According to a press release issued Dec. 9, a merger between Pactiv Evergreen and Charlotte-based Novolex will provide better customer service, increased product innovation and additional distribution capabilities across North America, but what the merger means for Pactiv’s lawsuits, its languishing 185-acre parcel in Canton and the future of the town’s wastewater treatment, isn’t yet clear. 

Hurricane Helene has dealt serious damage to Pactiv Evergreen’s shuttered Canton paper mill, but the St. Louis-based demolition and development company owner trying to buy the 185-acre parcel remains undeterred. 

Pactiv Evergreen has filed a request with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to make “major” modifications to the discharge permit for its wastewater treatment facility in Canton.