Sonoco to close one of its US factories this year

The company says it is moving its operations from Boone to its plant in Neenah, Wisconsin and is offering employees a transfer if they choose to take it and offering placement services to all of its laid-off staff.

Clear Lam

The news comes at the same time as Sonoco completes its acquisition of Clear Lam Packaging​, a manufacturer of flexible and forming plastic packaging films, for approximately $170m. 

Clear Lam has facilities in Elk Grove Village, Illinois and Nanjing, China, with nearly 400 total employees.

The firm produces high barrier flexible and forming films for consumer packaged goods, with a focus on structures for perishable foods.

Rob Tiede, executive VP, COO, Sonoco, said it wants to leverage Clear Lam’s expertise in modified atmosphere packaging.

“Clear Lam has also developed portion-control condiment packaging, peel-reseal films for fresh fruits and vegetables, forming films for healthy yogurts, lidding films for fresh guacamole and several packaging films that expand shelf life,” he added.

Corporate Responsibility Report

Sonoco recently released its 2016-2017 Corporate Responsibility Report claiming it is making ‘great progress towards its 2020 targets’.

The report states Sonoco reduced total water usage by 4.09%, total energy usage by 0.52% and total greenhouse gas emissions by 3.35% in 2016.

Since 2009, the company has reduced total greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) by 6.7%, or by 21% per metric ton of production and reduced total water usage by 31%, or by 42% per metric ton of production.

Sustainability remains a key motivation throughout all project stages: design, production, delivery, display, consumption, and recycling and reuse.

Factors like sourcing, shelf life, energy efficiency, carbon footprint and recycling are weighed throughout the packaging lifecycle.