Cascades Inc. Invests $21 Million To Upgrade Two Canadian Mills

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Cascades Inc. has announced major investment at its Canadian mill facilities. The company will invest $21 Million in two of its facilities, aimed at further strengthening its leadership position in the food packaging segment. The company press release stated that the fund will be utilized towards purchasing most modern equipment to expand its production line and capacities at the Cascades Inopak plant in Drummondville and the Plastiques Cascades plant in Kingsey Falls.

The announcement regarding the multi-million dollar investment was made during a function which was attended by Dominique Anglade, Deputy Premier, Minister of Economy, Science and Innovation, Alexandre Cusson, Mayor of Drummondville, Cascades Inc’s top management, employees, customers and suppliers.

The investment project has already received significant government support. According to sources, Cascades Inc. received a loan amounting to $6 million from the government through Investissement Québec.

The company plans to invest $15 Million at the Drummondville facility. This will be utilized towards expansion of the existing building facility and towards installing a first-of-its kind high performance rPET film manufacturing line. The commissioning of the line is expected to boost the mill’s production of Integral packaging, made from recycled PET. The company had recently made an investment of nearly $26.4 Million towards expansion of the facility by around 45,000 square feet.

The Kingsey Falls plant will receive an investment of around $6 Million towards purchase of state-of-the-art equipment at the facility. This will be used to add additional extrusion line and two recycling lines. The investment is expected to increase the production capacity of the plant by at least one-fourth. Additionally, Cascades aims to double the internal recycling capacity of the plant. Consequently, the EVOK polystyrene foam trays manufactured from the facility will have higher recycled content. The investment will also result in less carbon emissions, thereby leading to enhanced environmental safety.

Cascades President and CEO Mario Plourde thanked the government for the financial assistance extended to the project. He hoped that the strategic investments will help the company to further strengthen its market position in the food packaging segment. The announced investment will consolidate the existing 216 jobs at the two facilities. Further, it will result in creation of more than 10 jobs in production and sales sectors, Plourde added.