Norske Skog Union was a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

located in

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The mill was part of the

Norske Skog Norske Skog ASA, formerly Norske Skogindustrier ASA, which translates as ''Norwegian Forest Industries'', is a Norwegian pulp and paper company established in 1962. The company has long been one of the world's leading manufacturers of newsprint ...

Corporation and opened in 1873 with the name Union Co. The mill had two paper machines that produced 240,000 tonnes of

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...

and

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

. It was closed down in 2006.

History

In 1872 Ulrik Sinding had established a

pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ful ...

beside the waterfall Damfossen in Skien. The pulp mill was not profitable and in 1873 Benjamin Sewell bought the waterfall and the lots. This is considered the foundation of Union Co. In 1890 Union Co was merged with

Skotfoss Bruk Skotfoss BrukUnion Nytt nr.39 1-1959 April 1959 print: Wittusen & Jensen A.S. Oslo Norway was a paper mill located in Skotfoss, Skien, Norway. The mill was part of the Norske Skog Union, Union Co., founded in 1890. It closed production on 31 Decembe ...

and Løveid Fabrikker at Skotfoss, where Union much later build

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

's first

electric railway A railway electrification system supplies electric power to Rail transport, railway trains and trams without an on-board Prime mover (locomotive), prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling pa ...

, operated until 1966. In the years that followed Union acquired a lot of companies, in 1916 they bought Skiens Papirfabrikk on Klosterøya in addition to many pulp mills. The mill at Skotfoss was closed in 1986 while there still was operation on Klosterøya. The Norske Skog corporation bought Union in 1999. Cutbacks were soon implemented and in 2005 it was decided to close the mill, to large protests from the local population and politicians. One primary complaint was that Norske Skog wanted to sell the mill despite it operating at a profit. Norske Skog declined to sell the plant to other investors. The mill ceased operations in March 2006.

External links

Corporate web siteCorporate entry on Union
{{Paper Pulp and paper mills in Norway Defunct companies of Norway Companies based in Skien Norske Skog Companies established in 1873 Companies disestablished in 2006 1873 establishments in Norway