Huhtamaki announces $100M expansion of Hammond, Indiana, facility

Huhtamaki North America, a De Soto, Kansas-based manufacturer of packaging for consumer goods, retail and food service markets, has announced plans to expand its Hammond, Indiana, facility. The company says the expansion will add capacity for its molded fiber products.  

The company expects a capital investment of nearly $100 million, which will result in the creation of about 100 jobs. The jobs will have an average salary of $50,500, according to a report by The Times of Northwest Indiana.  

“The design of this new facility will provide the capability to build another world-class asset,” says Rich Blastic, Hammond plant manager for Huhtamaki. “We plan to continue on our path of building 21st-century work environments that are good for our customers, employees and communities. We are very excited about this project and looking forward to the growth it will create for our company.”  

The investment and construction will add about 250,000 square feet to the facility. Facility construction will begin this summer, and the company expects it to be completed in either late 2022 or early 2023.  

On its website, Huhtamaki says its Hammond facility makes “molded fiber drink carriers and egg filler trays [that] are distributed to numerous grocery and retail outlets.” In its 2021 annual report, the company says globally 66.6 percent of the raw materials it used were “renewable or recycled materials” and 98 percent of its fiber infeed consisted of “certified or recycled fiber.”

“This is an investment made to serve our customers in the consumer goods and retail markets with some of our core products,” says Ann O’Hara, president of Huhtamaki North America. “The addition to our Hammond, Indiana facility will expand our capacity, building on the success of earlier expansions, and leveraging our global expertise in molded fiber. The facility will not only grow the quantities we can produce but also improve our distribution throughout the region.”   

Recycling Today has reached out to Huhtamaki for further comment.