Glass Plant Closure Impacts 90 Oregon Workers

Staff
By Staff
2 Min Read

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A major manufacturer of glass bottles plans to

shut down its manufacturing operations and cut

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dozens of jobs at a facility in Oregon.

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Owens Brockway, a subsidiary of Ohio-based O-I

Glass Incorporated,

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operates the nearly 70-year-old glass

manufacturing and recycling plant on Portland’s

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northeast side.

The company informed state officials this week

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that it would close down the facility’s bottle

production line and lay off 90 workers in a bid

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to reduce redundancy

throughout its operations.

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The move comes just over two years after the

facility slashed what then amounted to about

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70% of its workforce over what it called a

downturn in the local wine industry.

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The facility has also run afoul of air quality

regulators in recent decades over its glass

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melting furnaces.

New pollution controllers were installed at the

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plant last summer under an agreement with

Oregon officials.

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Owens Brockway will continue to operate a

warehouse at the Portland site.

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And officials also indicated that the move is

not expected to affect glass recycling under

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Oregon’s landmark bottle bill, a recycling

refund measure dating back to the early 1970s.

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The Oregon Journalism Project reported that a

nearby facility also owned by O-I expects to

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continue to take in tens of millions of pounds

of glass from the cooperative that manages the

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bill and turn it into new bottles.

The Owens Brockway layoffs are reportedly set

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to take effect on Tuesday.

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I’m Andy Zal.

This is Manufacturing Now.

 

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