Your Replacement Polystyrene Ships From Altamira
INEOS Styrolution's Illinois WARN filing puts 64 people out in September and 30 in December, which is a plant that stops making polystyrene now and gets taken apart later. The 400,000 tonnes coming out is about nine times everything the US imported on that customs line last year, and Mexico already ships half of what does arrive.
The Illinois WARN report for July carries a line that tells you when a plant stops running, if you read the schedule column rather than the headline number.
INEOS Styrolution America, LLC, 25846 SW Frontage Rd., Channahon, IL 60410. Type of event: Closing. Workers affected: 94.
And then the schedule that actually matters: Sept. - 64, Dec. - 30.
Sixty-four people leave in the first tranche and thirty leave almost four months later. That is the shape of a site that quits making product in September and spends the fourth quarter being taken apart.
The first tranche began September 4. Which means the 400,000 tonnes of polystyrene capacity at Channahon is, for practical purposes, already gone from your 2027 balance.
"Where does a US polystyrene buyer find 400,000 tonnes when the import channel has never been that big?"
What the Filing Says and What the Release Says
Two documents, and they do different jobs.
INEOS Styrolution announced the closure on 18 June 2026: the Channahon site, running since 1960, approximately 400,000 metric tons of capacity, decommissioning and orderly closure expected to complete in Q4 2026. CEO Steve Harrington cited "persistent margin pressures" threatening "the viability of our North American business." Greg Fordyce, who runs the Americas business, framed it as "concentrating production in fewer, more efficient assets."
North American polystyrene goes from three sites to two: Decatur, Alabama and Altamira, Mexico. The Americas Regional Development Center stays at Channahon, so the address survives even though the reactors do not.
The WARN filing, received by Illinois on July 2, adds the timing the release left vague. Layoff type permanent, county Will, NAICS 325211.
Union: no, which is why the two tranches are clean dates rather than a negotiated schedule. The state's own cause field reads "Faltering Co. Financial Restructuring."
Nothing in either document is a surprise if you have watched styrenics for three years. The useful part is the calendar, and the calendar says the tonnes stop in September.
The rest of this brief is for subscribers.
The capacity math, the trade-flow read, and what it means for the products you buy.
$50 a month, or $400 a year.
Already a subscriber? Sign in