Free disposal/recycling event on Feb. 5 at Polymer Tech Park in Davisville

Businesses, organizations and residents of Wood County and the Mid-Ohio Valley can recycle their old or inoperable electronic devices for free during a recycling event to be held in the Polymer Technology Park (1 Polymer Way) in Davisville, West Virginia from 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2010, event organizers announced.  

By JESS MANCINI

POSTED: January 7, 2010

PARKERSBURG - DuPont Wednesday named a new plant manager at the Washington Works Plant.

Karl J. Boelter's appointment was effective Friday, the company said in a release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Boelter, a graduate from Villanova and Lehigh University, started his career with the chemical giant in 1985 at the Washington Works. He is the 15th manager at the plant and succeeds William H. "Bill" Hopkins, who retired last Friday.

Boelter said it was an honor and plans to carry on where Hopkins left off and build upon DuPont's core values of improving safety, concern for the environment and respect for the community, and continue to challenge and motivate the workplace to reach and exceed its potential.

"I'm extremely excited," he said.

Parkersburg News & Sentinel

By JODY MURPHY

December 22, 2009

WASHINGTON - Bill Hopkins, plant manager for DuPont's Washington Works facility, is retiring.

Company external affairs officer Robin Ollis-Stemple said Hopkins' retirement is effective Dec. 31.

Hopkins, a Belle, W.Va. native, who graduated from DuPont High, is stepping down after almost 30 years with the company. He started at the company's Belle facility in 1980. He was transferred to Washington Works in 1990.

Ollis-Stemple said Hopkins was also transferred to Dordrecht Works in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2001, before returning to Washington Works. He's been plant manager of the Washington Works plant since 2005.

"He's spent a little over half his career here at the plant in different capacities," Ollis-Stemple said.

DuPont's Washington Works plant, which opened in 1948, employs about 1,600 workers and is the single-largest taxpayer in Wood County.

Ollis-Stemple said Hopkins sent out a letter to employees this week announcing his decision. In the letter, Hopkins, 52, indicated he and his family would be relocating to the Chicago area.

"One of the things he said was when he started with DuPont in 1980, his dream job was to be a plant manager and he was pleased to fulfill that dream," Ollis-Stemple said, "And he thanked the employees for making it a wonderful reality."

Local officials said Hopkins will be greatly missed. Keith Burdette, president of the Wood County Economic Development Authority, said Hopkins was a fighter when it came to keeping company jobs in the area during hard times.

"He worked hard to retain and keep those full-time DuPont jobs when others were downsizing," Burdette said. "He has bled for this community."

Wood County Commission President Rick Modesitt also expressed regret at Hopkins' departure. Modesitt said Hopkins was a great asset to the community and cooperative with local government."

"I enjoyed getting to know him and working with him," Modesitt said. "He will certainly be missed."

Hopkins was also a member of the Economic Development Board, the United Way Board of Directors and West Virginia University-Parkersburg's Board of Directors.

Ollis-Stemple said Hopkins' replacement has not yet been named. Modesitt is hopeful the new replacement can follow Hopkins' mold.

"Anytime you have a new plant manager with one of the leading companies and employers in your area you wonder how civic-minded they will be," he said.

"He was a straight shooter and top-notch guy," Burdette said. "It will be a real hole in the community."

Ask most West Virginians what businesses are important to our state’s economy, and you’ll often hear coal and tourism. Coal holds an historic role in our state; tourism’s value is more recent.

They are only two industries that offer economic benefit to the state. The polymer, or plastics, industry that offers long-term sustainable economic benefit.

According to a recently completed study by the Polymer Alliance Zone, this industry provides good-paying jobs, growing business opportunities and positive economic impact for our state and its residents.

West Virginia’s plastic industry, directly and indirectly, annually accounts for more that 22,630 jobs, $1.19 million in employee compensation, $2.2 billion in economic activity and pays more than $178 in state taxes, according to the study, which was conducted by the Marshall University Center for Business & Economic Research.

Our Industry is statewide and offers good paying jobs. There are more than 75 companies involved in the plastics industry in our state, and they operate in 33 of our 55 counties. The wages for employees in our industry average $54,000 per year, more than one and a half times the state’s average wages of $37,000.

In the Jackson, Madison and Wood counties region, where the Polymer Alliance Zone operates, more than 7,300 people are directly or indirectly employed by the industry, and the average plastics industry salary there is $74,000 per year. About 13 percent of all employment in that region is associated with the plastics industry.

Our industry is a divers, goods-producing industry. Some companies produce goods that are sold directly to businesses and households. Others produce intermediate products used by other industries. West Virginia’s plastics industry supplies products to the construction, mining, transportation, food production, medical, recreational and household sectors of our economy within and outside of West Virginia.

The West Virginia firms can be divided into four types of manufacturing:

Plastics materials and resins;
Chemical additives, such as anti-oxidants, polyols, fire retardants and organofunctional silicones;
Final and intermediate plastic and polymer products produced from a variety of materials;
Services, such as compounding, mold making and plastics recycling.

West Virigina’s plastics industry today accounts for 3.6 percent of the state’s total economic activity. That percentage is likely to grow as new businesses, such as PWP Recycling in Wood County and Kureha Corp in Kanawha County, open and expand their operations in the state. Additionally, West Virginia plastics manufacturers enjoy an average operating profit margin of 8.5 percent compared with the national average of 4.6 percent.

Our state’s polymers industry has a reputation for world-class research and technology in electronics recycling. The Polymer Alliance Zone received a top 10 ranking for growth in plastics facilities from the Society of Plastics Industry.

At the Polymer Alliance Zone, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the economic development of the polymer industry, we are proud of the steady and valuable work of our members and the other polymer and plastics businesses in the state.

We think it is important for West Virginians to know that, while many Polymer Alliance Zone businesses operate in Wood, Mason and Jackson counties, others operate successfully around the state. West Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of high-technology, specialty and engineering polymer companies in the world.

With the results of this study in hand, we intend to pursue our mission of encouraging partnerships with education and government institutions, promoting entrepreneurship in our industry and offering the best business environment for the polymer industry in the world.

~Karen Facemyer is president of the Polymer Alliance Zone, www.pazwv.org, and is a state senator from Jackson County.~