Melissa and Christopher LaCasse, co-founders of Tanbark, pose with Governor Janet Mills. Eloise Goldsmith photo
SACO—”Maine is great place to start a business.” That was a common refrain during the launch of a new sustainable packaging company, Tanbark, Oct. 11. The launch ceremony was attended by members of the business community and Governor Janet Mills, who has made combatting climate change one of the key planks of her governorship.
Tanbark is the brain child of husband and wife Melissa and Christopher LaCasse, who are also co-founders of the company. The firm designs and produces sustainable packaging, such as food containers, using pulp from trees and other plant fibers. While they currently only have one plant in Saco, they expect to expand quickly — and soon.
“If you look at our pipeline, once we start outbound we’re going to have a lot of need for capacity. We’re looking at larger mill sites around Maine already,” said Melissa LaCasse.
In addition to the two clients Tanbark already has lined up, Luke’s Lobster and Hannaford Grocery, the company is already in talks with other brands, some of which are household names, said LaCasse when she addressed attendees.
A Tanbark employee oversees a demonstration of how the company’s sustainable packaging is made. Eloise Goldsmith photo
The launch ceremony included a demonstration of how the packaging products are created, a process during which watered down pulp is fed through a forming machine and hot press to form a finished product. The packaging provides an alternative to single-use plastics, which poses an acute environmental threat because they do not biodegrade.
While Tanbark’s products are at the frontier of a movement towards reusable packaging, it’s also working to restore a historically important industry in Maine. “We’re creating new markets for the pulp and paper industry,” said LaCasse. “We’re taking a legacy industry in Maine that has been decimated … and we’re reinvigorating it,” she added. In 1967, the paper industry employed nearly 19,000 Mainers, and by 2017 that number had plummeted to 4,400, according to figures gathered by the Portland Press Herald.
During her public remarks, LaCasse praised the “breadth, depth and magic of Maine’s entrepreneurial ecosystem,” citing the entities that came together to help Tanbark launch, including the Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund, Gorham Savings Bank, and others.
Governor Mills echoed LaCasse’s comments about Maine’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. “Maine is the birthplace of a lot of innovation and a lot of ingenuity,” she said.
Mills’ administration also played a key role in helping the business get off the ground. Tanbark received over $500,000 in funding through the governor’s Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, an initiative funded by federal money from the American Rescue Plan.
The governor praised Tanbark for contributing to the state on multiple fronts: providing manufacturing jobs, reviving a legacy industry and working to “address what is a major driver of the climate crisis, all at the same time.”
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