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Charleston Business

Evanesce Packaging Solutions, Inc. Locates Production Facility

Oct 04, 2018 10:38AM ● By Kathleen Maris
Evanesce Packaging Solutions, Inc. announced plans to locate its first large-scale production operations in Colleton County. The facility, which will manufacture compostable food service trays, represents a $70 million investment and is expected to create 368 new jobs over the next five years.

Evanesce was founded in response to the growing global need to replace existing packaging technology with truly compostable, organic, sustainable alternatives. The company produces compostable packaging with considerations for strength, insulation, and nesting capabilities, but, more importantly, cost competitiveness to traditional solutions.

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Evanesce is developing products in many molded packaging segments. The company's proprietary compostable technology, coupled with its collaboration with world-renowned food processing equipment producer Franz Haas, has allowed it to move quickly from development to production.

The operation in Walterboro, which will locate in the expandable 100,000-square-foot Colleton County Commerce Center Building, will focus on producing meat, seafood, vegetable, and meal trays for the U.S. market. Tray production is expected to commence in early 2019.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved a $1.5 million Rural Infrastructure Fund grant to Colleton County to assist with the costs of the project.

"We spent considerable time assessing locations in a number of states and were impressed by the reception we received in South Carolina and, particularly, the interest displayed by Colleton County to accommodate us and work with us to locate there," said Douglas Horne, Evanesce president and CEO. "We are very impressed with the many advantages, and our location directly on an Interstate 95 interchange is second to none."