Oct 07, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation opened its new Cerritos facility, one of the most modern corrugated container manufacturing facilities in the industry. Smurfit-Stone invested $42 million to transform an existing facility into the state-of-the-art plant, which will employ approximately 123 people. Smurfit-Stone President and COO Steve Klinger said, "The Cerritos plant represents our vision to build a world-class manufacturing organization, supporting our customers' needs through high-performing, highly accountable people; sophisticated equipment; and standardized, repeatable processes. We are committed to Cerritos and to serving our customers in the Southern California market." The Cerritos plant highlights Smurfit-Stone's commitment to integrating sustainability into its operations. To reduce energy consumption, the plant is powered by a high-efficiency boiler and uses highly efficient make-up air heaters in the production area. Smurfit-Stone has made great strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its facilities, reducing the burning of fossil fuels by approximately 20% since 1998. As a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, Smurfit-Stone has committed to achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions of six percent below baseline by 2010. The company's recycling operations recovered 7 million tons of valuable materials from the waste stream in 2007, including 6.8 million tons of recovered paper, making Smurfit-Stone one of the world's largest paper recyclers. 41% of the recovered paper was used as raw material in the company's containerboard manufacturing operations. Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation is one of the industry's leading integrated containerboard and corrugated packaging producers and one of the world's largest paper recyclers.