Vermont

Recycled paper mill closes its doors in Vermont

Published

2 years ago

January 22, 2024

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Recycled paper mill closes its doors in Vermont

Pointing to rising energy costs, Vermont-based Putney Paper shut down Jan. 16. | Max Barnum/Shutterstock

Putney Paper, a Northeast U.S. mill that took in post-consumer recovered fiber and converted it into recycled tissue, napkins and towels, closed its doors last week, with company leadership citing rising energy costs contributing to the closure.

The Putney, Vermont-based Putney Paper Mill closed on Jan. 16, laying off 127 workers at the mill, according to a news release from the Vermont Department of Labor. The mill is owned by Soundview Vermont Holdings, which also owns Northeast U.S. recycled paper company Marcal Paper. Soundview acquired the Putney mill in 2013.

In recent years, Soundview invested significantly in the facility to improve its recycled fiber capabilities. In a March 2019 presentation to the Northeast Recycling Council, company representatives described an investment of more than $1.5 million in the Putney mill to improve its pulping system. The upgrades were designed to allow greater use of post-consumer recycled fiber in both white and brown paper grades. The company noted this would allow the use of more mixed paper from MRFs to produce its kraft paper grades, as well as using more sorted residential papers in white grades.

In a news release quoted in The Commons newspaper, Soundview executives referenced those upgrades, noting that “over the past decade, the company invested tens of millions of dollars to strengthen the mill, but the rising energy costs were too insurmountable to sustain operations. The decision to close the mill comes after careful consideration and a recognition that there was not a viable path forward.”

In testimony before Vermont lawmakers in 2017 – also first reported by The Commons – company leadership reported sourcing more than 40,000 tons of recycled paper in 2016.

Resource Recycling could not immediately reach Soundview for comment on the grades and tonnage processed at the mill at the time of its closure.

Soundview’s other Northeast paper mill, the Marcal mill in Elmwood Park, N.J. was damaged in a fire in 2019.

The Vermont Department of Labor noted Soundview will provide pay and benefits for all employees for 60 days after the closure notice.

Vermont

74-year-old woman fulfills childhood dream as EMT at fair in Vermont

Published

10 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Press Room

74-year-old woman fulfills childhood dream as EMT at fair in Vermont

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (Aging Untold) — For 10 days, the Champlain Valley Fair, a county fair in Vermont, becomes its own little town with thousands of people, hot afternoons and the occasional emergency.

Charlene Phelps, 74, runs the fair’s emergency response team.

“We have a lot of seniors that come and people don’t drink enough water,” Phelps said.

The team handles sprains, bee stings, heat exhaustion and whatever comes through.

“I like taking care of people, I like helping people,” Phelps said.

Living out a childhood dream

It’s also a childhood dream.

Phelps wanted to be a nurse, but college wasn’t possible, so she found another route into care and has been showing up year after year at the fair.

Aging Untold expert Amy O’Rourke said living out your purpose can improve mental and spiritual well-being.

“When you tap into that, you’re tapping in on a place that’s a risk, that’s a challenge that inevitably creates growth inside you, gives you confidence so that if you’re in another situation you can build on that,” O’Rourke said. “Or, if you’re in an everyday situation where you’re a little anxious, it’ll help create stabilization in that place as well.”

Saving lives at the fair

Sometimes it’s bigger than a bandage.

“Over on there near the swings way over there is Gustovo, and we saved his life,” Phelps said.

Gustovo had gone into cardiac arrest at the fair a few years ago.

“I mean he was gone,” Phelps said.

Now he’s back and working the rides.

“Came for my hug, Gustovo,” Phelps said.

O’Rourke said stories like this are also why some people keep working past retirement age. Purpose isn’t a number, it’s a role.

“I’ve seen a 92-year-old still working as a nurse’s aid. I’ve seen people in my neighborhood chilling out and loving it,” O’Rourke said. “So, I think it’s being really self-aware of what you need and making sure that you’re getting those needs met.”

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Vermont

Vermont lawmakers reject digital lottery initiative – Valley News

Published

22 hours ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

Vermont lawmakers reject digital lottery initiative – Valley News

A plan by Gov. Phil Scott’s administration to make all of the state’s lottery games, including scratch-off tickets, available on a person’s phone never got off the ground at the Statehouse this year.

Lottery Commissioner Wendy Knight told lawmakers in January that the plan was a way to modernize the lottery “because you need to keep pace with technology — you need to meet your players where they are.”

Fifteen states have created a “digital” lottery system, and many have discovered there’s a distinct market of people who don’t buy lottery tickets at retail outlets but will do so on their phones, according to Knight. “We’re trying to ensure the future of the Vermont Lottery, ” the commissioner said.

But state lawmakers have not been persuaded.

Vergennes Rep. Matt Birong, the Democratic chair of the House government operations committee, said members of the panel felt this year was not the time to move forward with this plan, especially given the recent legalization of sports betting.

“It is digitizing a current system and after moving forward with the sports wagering — people just wanted to take their time with it — so my committee decided to tap the brakes on further testimony.”

The administration estimated that the plan would have raised roughly $5 million a year for the state’s education fund after two years of implementation.

The prospect of that additional revenue is appealing to lawmakers, and Birong said they may reconsider the plan next year.

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