Popsicle stick maker comes to Thunder Bay

 
A new wood products company is setting up shop in the Thunder Bay area to process white birch into 'food-grade' wood products.

Global Sticks starts construction on a new factory this fall on the outskirts of the city to manufacture sticks used for ice cream bars, Popsicles, corn dogs, paint paddles and tongue depressors.

The mill will create about 75 jobs according to a Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Sept. 25 news release.

Construction begins in October and is expected to be complete by January.
 
Hood Logging Equipment is a local partner in the plant.

Based in Surrey, B.C., Global Sticks was recently established out of the merger of American, Danish and British Columbia investors. The companies had been sourcing sticks from China.

The two companies are the recipients of $3.8 million in provincial grants and loan guarantees for the mill project.

Northern Ontario Heritage Fund also delivered a $1 million loan for Hood Logging to build the mill. Hood Logging president Bruce Hynnes was unavailable for comment as was Global Stick's new mill manager Earl Metcalf.

The factory will produce up to 2.9 billion food-grade wood sticks annually derived from northwestern Ontario white birch, a species that is considered under-utilized.

“We're really excited and happy to see something that can replace lost jobs in the forest industry,” said Lucy Kloosterhuis, mayor of Oliver Paipoonge. “Anything that is value-added is wonderful.”

Kloosterhuis said the municipality hadn't been courting Global Sticks but she had heard the company was looking for a place to situate their business and had looked at a few locations in Thunder Bay.

The mill will be located on private property on Arthur Street West.
 
“It's terrific. It's going to bring 80-plus jobs to the plant not counting the construction,” said Klooterhuis. She hopes the mill brings other value-added forestry businesses into the area.

Oliver Paipoonge, a rural municipality on the western boundary of the City of Thunder Bay, has become a hub for small value-added wood companies to set up shop because of the excess of available commercial property in their Rubin Industrial Park. The municipality is applying for government infrastructure funding for a park expansion to create lots of five-plus acres to accommodate a couple of companies in the construction sector that are interested in relocating.