MAINE (From news reports) -- A Scarborough packaging plant plans to close its facility in the coming months, laying off 67 workers.

Sonoco Products, a South Carolina-based paper and metal packaging company, notified employees March 13 that RTS Packaging, which manufactures paperboard partitions, will shut its doors after almost 40 years.

Roger Schrum, head of investor relations and communications for Sonoco, said the plant will close "in the next few months" and will continue operating in the meantime.

"We understand the impact this closure may have, and we are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for the plant, our employees, and other affected parties," he said in an email.

Employees are eligible to apply for other Sonoco jobs "where openings may exist," he said, noting several East Coast operations. The company's only other Maine facility is about 100 miles north in Pittsfield.

The plant opened in 1987 and joined Sonoco's portfolio in 1997.

Sonoco filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, with the Maine Department of Labor, March 13. The WARN Act is a federal law requiring employers of a certain size to give advance notice to workers facing a plant closure or mass layoff.

The Scarborough plant's closure is the first round of layoffs to trigger a WARN notice so far this year and is the largest number of layoffs to require a notice since more than 250 people were laid off from Puritan Medical Products in Pittsfield in June 2023.

Sonoco announced earlier this month a $70 per ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard in the U.S. and Canada, effective April 10. A company official cited inflation, rising input costs and tightening market conditions.

Sonoco also said it will institute an 8% price increase starting April 8 for converted paperboard products, including tubes, cores, cones, partitions and protective packaging.

The company has over 28,000 employees in more than 300 locations globally.