Can Paper Replace Plastic? A Packaging Giant Is Betting It Can

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—When a new building-size machine cranks up this month, it will begin turning mountains of recycled cardboard into paperboard suitable for greener forms of packaging.

The $600-million project, the first new paperboard production line built in the U.S. in decades, represents an enormous bet by owner Graphic Packaging Holding Co. on a future without foam cups, plastic clamshell containers or six-pack rings.