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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2019)
8A | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL PakTech from A1 On the Cottage Grove PakTech site, seven large injection molding ma- chines process liquifi ed HDPE into precise custom- izable shapes for workers to sort and package. The fi nished product ends up on packs of bottles, cans and other products at re- tailers. The company’s exten- sive client list includes Pepsi, Coke, Procter & Gamble, Hop Valley Brew- ing and Ninkasi Brewing Company. Borg, an engineer, de- signed all the handles made by the company. “We’re able to just de- sign something on the computer, make a mold for it and we’ve got the part in hand in a week or so,” he said. Though the fami- ly-owned business started in 1991, its transition to recycled plastics only be- gan over the last fi ve years and production didn’t set in until the last couple years. The company had previously manufactured custom plastic molds and plastic packaging items. Headquartered in Eu- gene, PakTech opened operations into Cottage Grove in 2017. Borg cred- ited the city with easing the moving process. “The city manager here even took an inspection class so that he could come out and inspect our work and get the permits sealed up faster,” he said. The company produc- es its handles entirely in- house, reducing the burden of third-party errors. “We actually have our tool room, our designing and our injection molding all within one company,” Borg said. This year has been marked by signs of success and growth for the compa- ny. In September, the Cot- tage Grove City Council voted to annex two acres of land owned by City Life Church, PakTech’s neigh- boring property. PakTech had inquired to the church about a strip of unused land between the two properties. The church, sitting just outside city limits, applied for ex- pedited annexation of the land for PakTech’s use. The expansion of the site will allow for streamlined trucking access and greater effi ciency. And PakTech’s momen- tum hasn’t gone unnoticed by the community. The Vision Keepers, a local committee which tracks the progress of com- munity goals, awarded the company with the Pioneer- ing the Future Award at an Aug. 29 city council meet- ing this year. “Paktech not only de- serves this award for their Earth-friendly approach to creating state-of-the- art packaging handles and materials, but they strive to use as many recycled ma- terials as they can,” said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tra- vis Palmer at the meeting. “And they also invest in their employees by helping to pay for their employees to get continued education and move on with their careers — that’s really pi- oneering the future.” The company has also invested locally by spon- soring the Mayor’s Ball for the past two years, an an- nual event which has been raising funds for the con- tinuing restoration of the Cottage Grove Armory. Since the company’s expansion into Cottage Grove, PakTech has grown to employ around 70 work- ers. Supervisor Brooke Feurer has been with the company for fi ve years and moved from Eugene to take a promotion at the new Cottage Grove site. Feurer’s experience with the company has been overwhelmingly positive. “They really take care of their employees,” she said. “I’ve never had any com- pany treat their employees the way they do.” Perhaps most notable among the list of bene- fi ts, PakTech reimburses employees for unlimited college credits and other expenses in their educa- tional pursuits providing they maintain a “C” grade average. “It’s nice to work for a company that helps you get an education,” said Feurer. “I was thinking about tak- ing advantage of it and do- ing some business courses. I have known employees who have done that.” Of the roughly 70 em- ployees, the majority are from Cottage Grove and the surrounding areas. Currently, space allows for three more machines to be added as business picks up. At capacity, Borg speculated around 100 em- ployees could be working at the site, bringing further economic and workforce growth to the town. Borg also feels that Pak- Tech’s contribution to the recycling demands of the area may have larger legis- lative implications. “We’re using enough plastic to where we’re get- ting noticed by people who can sway policy,” Borg said, hopeful that he may have the ear of enough government offi cials to move legislation through the state. “I think we should do something along the lines of what Germa- ny does, which is identify a new color bin for just plastics – and stop putting cardboard in the same bin as plastics.” The mixture of card- board and plastics is a Your Party goes HERE! The perfect place to celebrate! Birthdays, weddings, baby bumps, anniversaries, family reunions, holidays and so much more... 2915 Row River Rd. cottageevents.com 541-942-6888 our Schedule y rty a P y a Holid No w ! 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These sorting er- rors can lead to a contami- nated cardboard stream. “So even if you wanted to recycle them, you pret- ty much can’t,” said Borg. “That’s one of the things we’re looking at – seeing if the county is willing to get a separate recycle bin for plastics.” For the time being, Pa- kTech takes back its own handles on site in Cottage Grove and sends them to a materials recovery facility, an option which Borg says is still not entirely effi cient and could be improved with facilities dedicated to plastics. 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