Editorial: The U.S. pulp & paper industry at a crossroads: Can it lead the bioeconomy, TAPPI Journal October 2025

The industry is entering a pivotal moment in which many of us find ourselves engaged in deep soul searching. Since the days of Francis Bacon when the illustrious triumvirate of gunpowder, the compass, and paper were the drivers of civilizations, our community has enjoyed a noble place at the table. Indeed, especially over the last 100 years, pulp and paper has quietly powered communication, commerce, and, more than ever today, packaging, thus representing a steady backbone for the continued stability of many global industries.

For more than a century, the pulp and paper industry has been a quiet pioneer in sustainability, long before the term “biorefinery” entered the lexicon.Mills converted renewable wood fiber into essentialproducts while simultaneously generating energy from residual biomass, closing material loops, and recovering chemicals for reuse. Our industry balanced production efficiency with tangible and reliable resource stewardship, demonstrating that large-scale manufacturing and environmental responsibility can indeed coexist. From kraft and sulfite pulping processes that recycle caustic chemicals, to cogeneration of heat and power from black liquor, pulp and paper operations have been the de facto model of circulareconomy principles, producing both material and energy from renewable feedstocks decades before climate and resource constraints made it a global imperative.