1938

Caraustar's first manufacturing facility was established in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1938 by Ross Puette and a group of investors for a total investment of $25,000. Initially incorporated as Carolina Paper Board Corporation, the relatively small mill and its 45 employees produced 25 tons per day of boxboard for the local folding carton market. The next six and one-half decades, however, would witness expansion, strategic diversification and impressive growth.

 

1940

During the 1940s, Caraustar began to expand and vertically integrate, adding paper mills, recovered paper recycling plants and converting facilities.

 

 

 

 

Caraustar History:

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1950 - 1960

By 1950, Caraustar's paper production had increased five-fold. In the '50s and '60s, Caraustar entered the tube and core markets with the acquisition of Star Paper Tube and the folding carton market by acquiring the Atlantic Coast Carton Company. The addition of more mills during this time period also increased paperboard production.

 

1970

In the 1970s, continued acquisitions coupled with the construction of new facilities fueled more growth. It was also during this decade that Caraustar first began producing gypsum wallboard facing paper, a new product that would prove to be a solid performer.

 

1980

By 1980, with more than 1,600 employees on the payroll and the paper mills producing 264,000 tons, sales reached $93.8 million.

 

1990

In October 1992, Caraustar successfully executed an initial public offering of its common stock, which set the foundation for an aggressive growth plan. Beyond its many acquisitions and expansions in the United States in the '90s --- including a variety of folding carton facilities, specialty products facilities, mills, recycled fiber operations, tube and core plants, etc. --- Caraustar opened a tube plant in Mexico City in 1992, acquired a tube facility in Great Britain in 1997, and in 1998 acquired a tube plant in Canada.

By the mid 1990s, Caraustar had become the number one overall supplier of recycled boxboard in the United States and by far the largest independent supplier of gypsum facing paper in North America.

In 1996, Caraustar entered into a joint venture with Temple-Inland for the operation of Standard Gypsum.

Caraustar continued its growth by acquiring Tenneco Packaging's five folding carton plants and purchasing the Sprague, Connecticut paperboard mill belonging to International Paper in 1999. Also in 1999, Caraustar entered into a joint venture with Temple's Inland Paperboard and Packaging Inc. to rebuild their Newport, Indiana mill, Premier Boxboard Limited, which began operations in August 2000.

2000 - present

With significant growth, Caraustar is now a billion dollar revenue company comprised of three business groups: Mill Group, Converted Products Group and Recovered Fiber Group.

The Mill Group, comprised of 10 paperboard mills and 4 specialty converting operations, manufactures 100% recycled paperboard and specialty converted products and represents one of the largest recyclers of recovered fiber in the United States. It serves all four of the industry’s principal recycled paperboard markets: folding cartons; tubes and cores; gypsum wallboard facing paper; and specialty paperboard and converted products.

Caraustar's Converted Products Group is comprised of an Industrial Packaging Segment and a Consumer Packaging Segment. With 44 facilities, the Industrial Packaging Segment manufactures paper tubes, cores, edge protectors, and adhesives. It is the second largest producer of tubes and cores in the U.S. The Consumer Packaging Segment, with 13 facilities, manufactures folding cartons, rigid boxes, and offers state-of-the-art packaging services. The segment ranks in the top 10 in folding carton production in the U.S.

One of the largest recyclers of recovered fiber in the U.S., Caraustar's Recovered Fiber Group operates 10 fiber recycling centers that receive, sort, bale and ship fiber to domestic and international customers. The group is also a broker of recovered fiber to domestic and international customers.