Cascades has announced the closure of its second tissue machine at its St. Helens, Oregon site, resulting in the complete shutdown of the plant.
The end of operations will be effective at the beginning of October and some 75 employees have been affected by the announcement.
In April, the company announced a repositioning of its tissue papers operating platform which included the progressive closing of its tissue plants in Barnwell, South Carolina, and in Scappoose, Oregon, as well as the shutdown of one of the two tissue machine at the St. Helens plant.
With the closure of the second tissue machine at St. Helens, the company will completely shut down the facility.
Cascades said the announcement “further simplifies the company’s operational platform by concentrating the majority of its tissue product operating activities at core, geographically well-positioned sites that offer opportunities for future development.”
Jean-David Tardif, President and Chief Operating Officer of Cascades Tissue Group, said: “Over the past few months, market conditions on the West Coast and a significant decline in demand in this region for brown recycled products specifically manufactured at the facility have compromised the long-term financial viability of the plant.
“Consequently, we made the decision to end the plant’s operations.”
The annual capacity of the machine is 50,000 short tons of brown 100% recycled tissue paper.
The company said the tons are not integrated into its network, so the closure will “have no impact” on the company’s other operations.
