Beaver County plant to close in January, resulting in 140 layoffs

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

" A Beaver County plant that makes styrene beads will shut down at the start of the year, resulting in 140 layoffs.

Styropek, which operates the BVPV Styrenics facility on 265 acres in Monaca along the Ohio River, will close the facility in January, the company wrote in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

“The permanent idling of the Monaca facility will result in the termination of employment of most employees at the site,” the company said in the filing. Some employees will be needed to wind down operations.

In a statement, Styropek said it bought the facility, originally built in the 1940s, in 2020 and tried to make improvements to the plant, but that “it would require significant investment to reach the required conditions to meet current market demands.”

“Styropek appreciates the dedication and contributions each one of its employees has made over the past four years, and is steadfast on meeting its commitment to them,” CEO Andreas Plettner said in the statement. “The company will provide severance payments and is exploring a variety of outplacement support services.”

Styropek first announced the closure plan in August, but said then that a final decision was “subject to further discussions.”

Mr. Plettner said at the time that Styropek knew it was buying an “aging facility.”

“While we made progress in better operationalizing the plant … the industry has continued to evolve and the economics of the current (expandable polystyrene) market, paired with our long-term goals and sustainability initiatives, make continued investment increasingly difficult.”

The beads made at the plant go into various styrofoam products, like cups, containers and packing materials.

The company was sued by several environmental groups last year alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, which Styropek has denied. The groups cited state environmental inspections that found beads in stormwater outfalls, on the ground and in the soil around the site.

Styropek said it is trying to move in a more sustainable direction with its products, focusing more on construction industry products like thermal insulation. The market for styrofoam food containers has been shrinking as environmental concerns shift trends in single-use materials.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act seeks to ensure that employees receive advance notice of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs. The WARN Act requires employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of such closures or layoffs.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette business desk: [email protected].