The Laocheng Paper Mill is asking local residents to put down pizza boxes and cardboard in response to the surge in demand for materials.

For about a month, the factory owner ND Paper has been asking for corrugated cardboard, food packaging, pizza boxes and other materials from residents in four surrounding communities: Old Town, Orono, Milford and Bradley. The company is using these donations to make recycled paper pulp, which is then sent to other manufacturers to make cardboard products.

ND Paper spokesperson Brennan Burks said that one of the ideas behind the plan is sustainability: to help local residents recycle their cardboard products instead of seeing them end up in landfills.

"Therefore, we want to reduce the amount of cardboard that enters the landfill to achieve better sustainable practices than we find the earth," Burks said. "Moreover, we can also use this material to make recycled pulp, and then send it to the global market to be used in other packaging products."

Burks said it is important for factories to find potential new sources of materials, because the growth of online shopping has led to a surge in demand for cardboard products, which has increased material prices.

"Therefore, the desire and demand for products, cardboard products and packaging products are only expected to continue to grow in the next few years," he said.

Burks said that compared with the previous year, North American box shipments in the fall of 2020 increased by nearly 10%.

The plan is currently only open to residents of four surrounding towns, but the company hopes to eventually expand. Residents can put cardboard in the trash can near the mill, located on Portland Street in the Old Town.