Georgia-Pacific notified employees Thursday it plans to permanently shut its box plant in Mt. Olive, Illinois, by Dec. 31, said Lauren Campen, senior manager of public affairs and communications for corrugated, via email.
The company is working to support the 134 affected employees with potential opportunities within G-P or other companies owned by Koch, G-P’s parent, as well as connecting them with job fairs and opportunities for employment outside the company, Campen said. Hourly employees are represented by the United Steelworkers union.
G-P chose to close this location based on a decline in orders along with an assessment of market factors that showed the facility can no longer competitively serve customers, Campen said. G-P already has started working with customers to ensure their needs continue to be met, she said.
“The decision to close the plant is not a reflection of [employees’] work but rather based on our ability to be competitive at this location in the long-term,” she said. “We appreciate all the work our employees have done through the years to make this plant safe and productive.”
The plant will continue to operate for the next 60 days. G-P owns this property and will make decisions about what to do with it after it has completely left the building, Campen said.
Closing this box plant marks Georgia-Pacific’s exit from full operations in Illinois, but the company will still use its warehouses throughout the state. G-P also has multiple locations in neighboring Wisconsin, including a paper mill, corrugated facility and innovation center.
In May, G-P announced it would close a containerboard mill in Cedar Springs, Georgia, and let go all 535 employees.
Other changes at the company in 2025 include its acquisition of Anchor Packaging on Oct. 22. This summer Georgia-Pacific also announced that CEO Christian Fischer would retire by the end of October, ending a tenure dating back to 1989, and he would be replaced by Mark Luetters.
