Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993                   TAG: 9311200248
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

BEDFORD GETS PELLET FACTORY

The Montcalm Co. of Grand Rapids converts paper waste into compressed pellets that can provide almost as much heat as coal, recycling the used byproducts.

``We're keeping millions of pounds of paper from the landfills,'' said Philip David, director of corporate development for Montcalm.

The company will build an ``enviro-station'' on 12 acres in the Little Otter Business Park on U.S. 221. The project will generate 15 to 20 semi-skilled jobs, David said. The company did not provide pay rates.

``Our intent is to have all employees hired from the local area,'' he said, listing plant-manager and production-worker openings as examples. He is working with the Virginia Employment Commission on salary ranges, he said.

Groundbreaking could be as early as the first of the year, with opening scheduled for March.

Bedford's main attraction for Montcalm's first out-of-state expansion was the Georgia-Pacific Big Island Pulp and Paper Mill, a large creator of paper byproducts.

The byproducts are ground, then made into dense pellets, he said. The pellets are about 2 inches long and 1 inch thick, ``like a short cigar.''

Customers for the pellets include the Upjohn Co., a pharmaceuticals maker; the state of Michigan; and General Motors Corp. He said Chrysler Corp. is considering switching to the pellet system.

Montcalm has been in business for four years and caters exclusively to industrial clients.

Bedford County Administrator William Rolfe said the addition of an environmentally conscious company will help attract other such industries to the area. ``It's not a big industry, but we'd rather have lots of industry this size throughout the county,'' he said.

Little Otter Business Park is an 80-acre privately owned industrial center just outside the city limits. Only one company occupies the park, a chemical distributor. The park was created three years ago.