According to a press release issued Dec. 9, a merger between Pactiv Evergreen and Charlotte-based Novolex will provide better customer service, increased product innovation and additional distribution capabilities across North America, but what the merger means for Pactiv’s lawsuits, its languishing 185-acre parcel in Canton and the future of the town’s wastewater treatment, isn’t yet clear. 

When Jason Gregory presented his new book on the history of manufacturing in Sylva at the Jackson County Public Library in August, the room was filled with residents who have a deeply personal connection to the stories Gregory wrote. 

To visitors, the noise seems strange and maybe even concerning. To folks in Canton, it sounds like home.

On Aug. 10, 2012, I took on my first assignment for The Smoky Mountain News. It was the “Papertown” album release show by Haywood County bluegrass sensation Balsam Range.

“The mill.” In Canton, as in hundreds of other towns across America, that was the only description needed to describe the factory that drove a small town’s economy, which generations depended on for their livelihood and some for their very identity. 

In less than three months, Pactiv-Evergreen’s Canton mill will cease operations after more than a century of serving as the cultural, economic and geographical center of the tiny Haywood County town of Canton. 

For much of the 20th Century, small-town life in Western North Carolina revolved around the large-scale industrial enterprises that had sprung up across some of the most rural settlements in the state. 

Some employers are having trouble attracting or retaining qualified employees, but those businesses could likely learn a thing or two from one Haywood County employer that isn’t facing that problem. 

Inside a nondescript miniature warehouse off Carolina Boulevard, Drew Singleton hovers about an imposing, intimidating metalworking machine; adjusting a knob here, spinning a wheel there, tweaking an armature and then stopping to assess the situation, he pauses and looks up to re-check his settings.

Consolidated Metco, a designer and manufacturer of commercial vehicle truck components, has announced that it will close its Bryson City plant permanently by Feb. 1, 2018.