St. Louis Business Journal - Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 10:11 AM CST

Sonoco to open Hazelwood plant, bring 75 jobs

Sonoco's Matrix Packaging Unit will open a new 150,000-square-foot rigid plastic container plant in Hazelwood, which will initially employ about 75 workers, the company said Tuesday.

The plant, which is located at 5801 Lindbergh Blvd., is expected to begin operation in the first quarter of 2008. The company expects to add more workers as production grows thanks to the growing demand for packaging to serve the home and personal care market.

The Hazelwood plant will initially operate six extrusion blow-molding machines, which will produce bottles for the household chemical and personal care markets. Sonoco recently signed a multi-year contract with an undisclosed consumer products customer to produce the containers.

Founded in 1899, Hartsville, S.C.-based Sonoco is a $3.7 billion global manufacturer of industrial and consumer products and provider of packaging services, with more than 300 operations in 35 countries.