The nascent company encountered difficulties two years after its incorporation as the United States fell into the Great Depression.

[7] In 1996, Georgia-Pacific sold its operations in Martell, California and its surrounding timberlands to Sierra Pacific Industries.

[10] In August 2001, Georgia-Pacific completed the sale of four un-coated paper mills and their associated businesses and assets to Canadian papermaker Domtar for US$1.65 billion.

Stephen Engelberg of The New York Times wrote that in 1995, Georgia-Pacific persuaded the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to approve an amendment that derailed a pending E.P.A.

Georgia Pacific is contributing to dam removal work as part of an effort to clean up PCB contamination in Kalamazoo.

[19] Georgia-Pacific is the largest user of de-ink fiber in the world, and its subsidiary company GP Harmon trades in the recycled material.

In 2005, president of the division Simon Davies estimated that China would require the import of scrap paper from the US and elsewhere for at least 15 years.

[21] The Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill in Crossett, Arkansas was the subject of environmental documentary film Company Town, released in 2016.

[22] In 2009, the EPA awarded Koch subsidiary Georgia-Pacific its SmartWay Excellence award, "an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing air pollution," and specifically commended Georgia-Pacific.

Georgia-Pacific uses advanced software to pack loads more efficiently and increase cube utilization in its trailers.

The company also reduced empty loads by 10 percent, increased utilization of local fleets, and established an idling reduction policy in place at its 12 distribution centers.