There's been a lot of attention on plastics recycling lately, thanks in part to the high cost of virgin resin. It reminds me a little bit of the early 1990s, when recycling was part of my beat. At the time, it seemed like I was getting phone calls every week from people interested in starting plastics recycling companies. Who will buy our material, they asked. How much will they pay?

A handful of those pioneering companies are still around today. Many more didn't last more than a few years.

Like now, prices for virgin resin were inflated back then, in part because of Gulf War. (The explosion at the Phillips 66 Co. plant in Pasadena, Texas, also contributed to the rise in virgin HDPE prices).

A couple of recycling-related items caught my attention today. First, this plastics recycling backgrounder came from Consumer Reports magazine's Greener Choices electronic newsletter. It's a decent source of information that doesn't slip into the common mistake of describing some plastics as unrecyclable, or worse. Nice job.

Second, I noticed this story from the Indiana Gazette newspaper's Web site in Indiana, Pa., which notes that the local recycling program is actually generating a profit this year thanks to rising prices for recyclables, especially newsprint and cardboard. (Unfortunately the borough doesn't collect plastic yet, but it may start soon).

Plastics recycling is a cyclical business, and if virgin resin prices start to drop, some recyclers will consider that pretty bad news.

Here's government in action... today the National Toxicology Program released a statement and a report that suggests that parents might want to reduce infants' exposure to products containing bisphenol A, such as polycarbonate baby bottles.

Remember, this comes just a few months after the Food and Drug Administration took the opposite approach, with testimony to Congress that BPA is safe.

When FDA came out with its statement, I was surprised by the amount of press converage it generated. After all, FDA wasn't really saying anything new -- the agency has said all along that BPA is safe.

Now the National Toxicology Program is publicly contradicting FDA. Here's NTP's advice to parents:

More research is clearly needed to understand exactly how these findings relate to human health and development, but at this point we can't dismiss the possibility that the effects we're seeing in animals may occur in humans. If parents are concerned, they can make the personal choice to reduce exposures of their infants and children to BPA.

With the release of this report, you can expect to see BPA in the mainstream media again, like this story posted today from USA Today.

And expect to see a lot of very confused consumers.

The news media is part of the story in Westport, Conn., where a columnist from The New York Times spoke in favor of a plastic bag ban on Tuesday night -- and then said he'd write about the ban.

That's according to this story from WestportNow.com. Westport's Representative Town Meeting voted 26 to 5 (with one abstention) in favor of a ban on plastic bags after a marathon three-and-a-half-hour debate. The ordinance will become effective in six months.

According to the report, local resident David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, "was animated in his support of the ordinance."

“Don’t let our kids and grand kids look back on us as idiots,” he said, adding, “And if you pass it, I’ll write about it in the Times.”

I don't see anything in the Times today, although Pogue did touch on the old paper vs. plastic question in a recent blog post.

I've covered a lot of city, village and town council meetings over the years, and I can tell you that it's rare to hear anyone use the word "idiots" in a public meeting. After the meeting, sure, you hear it all the time. But maybe folks in Connecticut are more direct.

Anyway, the bag ban craze has officially spread to The Nutmeg State, despite the efforts of Steve Rosario, who represented the American Chemistry Council at the meeting. Westport joins a handful of cities in California and Hawaii with bag bans on the books.

Why do some politicians like to ban stuff, like polystyrene takeout containers and polyethylene grocery bags? Peter Shawn Taylor, editor-at-large of Maclean's magazine, answers the question with this opinion column titled "Bomb the ban," in Canada's National Post.

Basically, Taylor says, there are four reasons for banning stuff:

1. Bans mean you care. ["Popular belief holds that saving the environment requires direct and immediate action. Further study is for wimps."]

2. Bans are easy. ["For politicians hoping to find simple solutions to difficult problems, a ban is the perfect option. ... Thinking intelligently about the law can be a complicated and time-consuming process. Not so with bans."]

3. Bans can make you famous. So true!

As politicians discover that bans give them a useful environmental profile, there's a strong incentive to be first. Case in point, Turner Valley's curious plan to ban Styrofoam. Such a move makes even less scientific sense than bans on pesticides or baby bottles. The embodied energy costs of Styrofoam are far less than paper alternatives, and it is entirely inert. This move will most likely do more harm than good for the environment. Besides, Styrofoam is simply the brand name for one form of polystyrene foam, which wasn't banned. But so what? Just announcing they were thinking of a ban got Turner Valley great press. It's the same reason even smaller Leaf Rapids, Man., banned plastic shopping bags last year. A ban is a great way for small-time politicians to get themselves national attention.

4. Bans provide cover for other ideologies.

If there is a ban to watch, it's the prohibition on bottled water sales. The Waterloo Region School Board got there first, as per reason three. Now university campus activists across the country are gearing up for major campaigns that will see bottled water banned in student buildings and offices. But this is not a crusade based on health issues. It clearly makes no sense to deny students access to a convenient and popular source of water at school, particularly given the state of most public water fountains. Rather, this urge is motivated by local politicians and campus groups who believe it is improper to make a profit selling water. The ban is meant to enforce the leftist belief that water should be free by outlawing its capitalist version.

Thought-provoking stuff... thanks to frequent blog reader Jim Cairns for pointing it out.

Bloomberg is reporting today that shares of Ciba Holding AG rose sharply today thanks to speculation that a merger may be in the works with rival Clariant AG.

The story seems pretty speculative -- it's based on the news that Clariant CEO Jan Secher had resigned, coupled with conjecture that company Chairman Juerg Witmer may be inclined to seek a merger with Ciba.

Still, if it's true, this would be a deal of special interest to a lot of folks in the plastics industry, especially in the compounding sector. Bloomberg notes that both companies "have struggled since 2000 with reorganizations, unsuccessful purchases and increased Asian competition."

This isn't the first time that Ciba and Clariant have been named in takeover rumor stories, Remember a year ago, when a Swiss newspaper reported that Huntsman Corp. considered both companies attractive takeover candidates? That one sure did not pan out!

Purchasing magazine's Web site has an interesting Q&A interview today with Richard A. Hughes, vice president of global purchases for Procter & Gamble Co.

The story throws around some pretty big numbers: P&G buys $4.2 billion in packaging annually. Some $4 billion of that is purchased under contract. The company has about 200 people worldwide involved in packaging purchasing, and 63 percent of them are managers.

With that many people on staff, I image they might know more about commodity resin pricing than many of the processors that supply P&G's packaging.

Cost savings are a big part of their job, but Hughes added that price isn't the only factor that P&G considers when it buys packaging: "We think that sometimes it's worth paying a little more to get the right 'pop' in the packaging on the shelf for the consumer. Packaging is a marketing tool, so we are cautious about driving everything to its lowest cost level. Packaging is important to the consumer, and sometimes it makes more sense to use a higher quality material to make the customer connection," he said.

Plastic Logic Ltd. is getting an unbelievable amount of publicity today for a new product, the Plastic Logic Reader, which could someday replace paper for newspapers and magazines. The company calls the product "a gamechanging new device that brings a panoply of business information to your fingertips with powerful tools to make people more productive and simplify their work lives."

The Reader is the the size of a 8.5 x 11-inch paper, thinner than a pad of paper and lighter than many business periodicals, according to the company's news release. It's made of plastic, of course, using "high resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates, manufactured at a low temperature."

Plastic Logic also notes that its new manufacturing plant in Dresden, Germany, is scheduled to open next week.

One of our sister publications in Europe, Plastics & Rubber Weekly, previewed this announcement back on Aug. 22, while also noting that the company had raised an additional $50 million on top of the $150 million already raised by a consortium of investors backing the company.

There does seem to be a lot of interest in this technology. I think that's partly because news is whatever editors think is interesting, and most editors are going to be very interested in what the newspaper and magazine of the future might look like.

Rio Tinto plc is getting closer to selling the Alcan packaging business, according to this Reuters story. The report, which cites unnamed "sources familiar with the situation," says potential bidders include packaging rivals Amcor Ltd., Bemis Co. Inc. and private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital.

The story cites analysts -- again, none are named -- who say the business "could be worth more than $5 billion." One source said the latest round of bidding is scheduled for Sept. 30, but it could be delayed.

This is one of those "sources said" stories that probably has more than a bit of truth -- I'm sure Reuters has good sources in the investment banking community who have a handle on which companies are taking a serious look at Alcan. Whether they actually bid is less certain, and the price tag definitely could be wild speculation (or wishful thinking on the part of a source trying to encourage a bidding war). So don't be surprised if we may learn more in a few weeks.

Merger and acquisition rumor stories are coming fast and furious lately, with a couple popping up this morning. The big news is from Reuters, which is reporting that Pfizer Inc. is interested in buying Bayer AG.

Also, in an unrelated move, some media including our sister newspaper Plastics & Rubber Weekly are reporting that acylic resin and sheet supplier Lucite International Ltd. may be the object of a takeover.

Pfizer would be interested in Bayer primarily for the drug side of the business, so if this deal comes to fruition -- certainly that's a very big if, at this point -- expect to see the plastics unit find a home elsewhere.

Lucite, created from the 1993 merger of the acrylics businesses of DuPont Co. and ICI plc, holds about a 25 percent share of the global acrylics market, according to the PRW report. Potential bidders here could include Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd., and Saudi International Petrochemical Co., known as Sipchem.

Citizens and local politicians are dealing with plastic bag litter issues, especially in California and Hawaii. Three stories caught my eye this week because they all illustrate a different way to attack the problem.

Encinitas, Calif., near San Diego, is taking the classic "ban the bag" approach. This story from the San Diego Union-Tribune captures the tone of the Sept. 10 meeting where the City Council voted 3-2 to pursue a ban, "drawing cheers from environmental activists in the audience." The Surfrider Foundation was the driving force behind the ban -- this is a group that seems to be gaining political clout. Watch for its grassroots-style effort to pop up elsewhere around the country -- even around the world.

Telluride and Aspen, Colo., took a different approach, with a voluntary effort to get consumers to use fewer bags that I blogged about earler this summer. Well, the results are in, and organizers are calling it a success.

For those who don't remember, the two resort cities had a competition to see which could use fewer plastic bags from May 24 (Memorial Day weekend) to Sept. 1 (Labor Day weekend). It turns out that Telluride's residents used 29,351 reusable bags at local grocery stores, compared to the 26,793 bags in Aspen. The sponsors of the contest, the Community Office of Resource Efficiency in Aspen and Sheep Mountain Alliance in Telluride. In Aspen, estimate that the towns eliminated more than 140,000 plastic shopping bags from being used this summer, according to this report in The Aspen Times.

Finally, there's this approach by the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The Recycling Council of Ontario today announced a six-month pilot project where participating merchants will sell or give away reusable bags, and then offer customers incentives to remember to bring them back to the store. Organizers will keep track of the number of reusable bags sold, and the number of single-use bags saved, to evaluate the effectiveness of the program next year.

I like the voluntary approaches, and hope that they're successful.

Bisphenol A is back in the headlines today, with a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggests an association between high exposure to BPA with the development of heart disease and diabetes.

The story is getting a lot of media attention. Check out this Washington Post story, as well as this sidebar telling readers how to avoid exposure to BPA.

The first tip in that sidebar -- telling consumers to avoid microwaving food in polycarbonate containers -- is potentially huge. A lot of informed consumers already know about the allegations of risk related to BPA in baby bottles, and in water bottles. But telling consumers to avoid microwaveable plastic containers is a new wrinkle.

The Post story about the new study includes an important caveat -- "The researchers acknowledge the limitations of their work and stressed that follow-up studies are needed to confirm their work and to determine whether BPA caused the observed health problems."

But I guarantee that many other media reports will leave out that detail.

The timing of the release, coming out the same day as the Food and Drug Administration holds a public hearing to debate BPA safety, will ensure that this story will get a lot of attention in your local newspaper and TV station today and tomorrow. Watch for more pressure to ban BPA in food packaging.

General Motors Corp.’s production version of the Chevrolet Volt has been getting plenty of press since the first photos began leaking out a week ago. Now with its official unveiling at GM’s 100th birthday party on Sept. 16, the media has finally started getting a close look at it.

There are some big differences between the concept Volt that rolled out at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2007 -- especially in the body structure. While GM engineers aren’t saying much about it, they did say that the body panels will be made of metal, unlike the concept which had a lightweight thermoplastic skin.

But plastic is still making a statement in the plug-in electric car, with splashes of white plastic in the interior. GM’s Global Design Director Ed Welburn told the Los Angeles Times that the carmaker wanted to mimic the design cues of today’s industrial design icons, including Apple Inc.’s iPod.

You can check out the inside view yourself through a GM video of the interior here.

Finally, special thanks to Rhoda Miel, our staff reporter in Detroit, for contributing this item to the blog today.

The Erie, Pa., Times-News is reporting that Erie Plastics Corp. may have a new owner soon.

The company is in discussions with Ed Crawford, chairman and chief executive officer of Park Ohio Corp., according to the story. Hoop Roche told the newspaper that the sale "hinges on the willingness of the company's union employees to make certain concessions. Employees will vote on those changes Monday.

The company laid off 192 of its 359 workers in March, when Procter & Gamble Co. withdrew business.

Plastics recycling continues to get a lot of attention in the mainstream media. Cleveland's The Plain Dealer is the latest to weigh in, with a feature today that looks at effort and payback of recycling. The story attempts to answer the common question, is the effort of recycling worth the trouble?

Here's what reporter John Campanelli has to say about plastics recycling:

What it is: Water bottles, milk jugs, yogurt containers, etc.

Market price per ton: $500 for water and soda bottles (code No. 1 plastic), $800 for milk cartons and other HDPE plastics (code No. 2).

Benefits: Recycling a ton of plastic bottles saves almost four barrels of oil and 200 cubic feet of landfill space.

Downsides: Before recycling, plastics need to be sorted into their different polymer groups (those tiny numbers inside triangles you see on the products). Plastic water and soda bottles are also rarely recycled into more bottles. Instead, they end up in other products, like carpeting or synthetic fabrics.

How we are doing: Americans recycle about 24 percent of their plastic bottles. Recycling rates for other kinds of plastics are lower.

Campanelli gives plastics recycling the equivalent of three-and-a-half stars (he actually uses little recycling bins instead). That's behind steel, paper and aluminum, but ahead of glass. His sources for plastics information include the American Chemistry Council and, for pricing data, the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District.

Plastics' light weight is a disadvantage when it comes to recycling. But the volume and homogeneity of products like milk jugs and soda bottles make recycling a natural. I've been getting a couple of calls per week from newspaper reporters doing stories on plastics recycling, so don't be surprised to see more coverage coming soon to a paper near you.

For its efforts today, I'll give The Plain Dealer four little recycling bins.

Dow Chemical Co. Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris spoke at the Detroit Economic Club today, emphasizing the need for a "comprehensive U.S. industrial policy."

Liveris outlined the need to balance energy, the environment and manufacturing as a foundation to keep the nation competitive in a world that is increasingly global, sophisticated and interdependent.

"What I'm talking about is a pro-industrial policy crafted and developed by manufacturers for manufacturers; a policy that rejuvenates our economic base. Consider it a new strategy, if you will, to make American industry competitive again, re-establish our economic and energy independence, and regrow jobs in America. What are the components of this plan? There are two. First, we must look with fresh eyes at the structural costs that have weakened the very foundation of our manufacturing enterprises and remove the obstacles hurting our competitiveness. And second, no surprise to any of you, we must develop a comprehensive energy policy."

Liveris signed on as a co-chair a National Summit on technology, energy, the environment and manufacturing. The other co-chair for the event, which is scheduled for June 15-17, 2009, in Detroit, will be William Clay Ford.

Hmmm, let's see. Those dates will put the summit just a week before NPE, and about five months into the first term of either President McCain or Obama. Anyone want to predict where the Dow Jones Industrials (and the price of a barrel of oil) will be when Ford and Liveris convene their summit?

Plastics get a couple of mentions in Wal-Mart Canada's new corporate sustainability report, which was released today. The references come in the report's "environment" section. Here are the relevant snippets:

Wal-Mart Canada is aggressively pursuing its long-term sustainability goals: to be supplied by 100 per cent renewable energy; to produce zero waste; and to sell merchandise that sustains resources and the environment.

The company made several notable strides in 2007 including the expansion of its waste diversion program to include additional types of plastics. As a result of Wal-Mart Canada's multi-stream recycling program, the company was able to divert more than 100,000,000 kilograms of waste from landfill.

Given that 92 per cent of the company's waste is the result of product packaging, Wal-Mart Canada established new criteria to assess suppliers and supply chain partners on the basis of their environmental efforts, impact and improvement. In addition, suppliers were invited to participate in two sustainable packaging expos, in conjunction with the Packaging Association of Canada, where they were educated on new sustainable packaging materials, technologies, designs and alternatives. Wal-Mart Canada is on the verge of rolling out its new packaging scorecard, a roadmap designed to help suppliers reduce their individual packaging.

I wanted more information about the "additional types of plastics" that are being recycled, as mentioned in the news release. So I checked out the relevant section of the full report. Here's what it has to say:

Over the years, our in-store recycling efforts have grown in scope and complexity. Initially our stores recycled just cardboard. In 2006 we added plastic film to the mix. In 2007 we evolved to include virtually every type of plastic waste generated in our stores, from hangers to pill bottles. The materials are compacted together to create “sandwich bales” (a layer of plastic between two layers of cardboard), eventually sold at a profit for Wal-Mart for re-use by others.

Finally, here's what the report has to say about plastics (and other materials) in connection to the company's packaging scorecard:

Packaging reduction offers huge environmental and business benefits. Globally we’re targeting a five per cent reduction in packaging for merchandise sold in our stores by 2013. We will need to work closely with our suppliers to reach this goal.

n 2007 Wal-Mart Canada held two sustainable packaging expositions, in partnership with the Packaging Association of Canada and 120 exhibitors, to help educate many of our suppliers
and other businesses on new sustainable packaging materials, technologies, designs and alternatives. On the strength of the first exposition, the second exposition was the largest attended one-day packaging event in Canada’s history.

In 2008 Wal-Mart Canada will introduce a packaging scorecard to measure suppliers and their products on these criteria: package reduction and elimination; use of materials that are biodegradable or have residual value; commitments to reduce emissions or use renewable energy in the creation of packaging and support for programs that encourage recycling.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. obviously can move a lot of mountains in the packaging and recycling sectors. And with a goal of eventually cutting waste to zero, the company still has some heavy lifting to do. A lot of plastics packaging companies around the world are watching every Wal-Mart move very carefully.

We've heard a number of anecdotal stories about manufacturers bringing work back to the United States from China, but it's rare to get a story with actual details. I found this one today in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and it's worth reading.

The story is about how Kewaskum, Wis.-based Regal Ware Inc. has brought nearly all of its production back to America, and now it will begin to ship some U.S.-made products to stores in China and Taiwan. The story stresses that the volume of work returning to American is not huge -- "The initial move to offshore sourcing involved private-label products marketed by another company that had not previously been made in Wisconsin," the story says. "The volume of product made in China has been a small part of the company’s total sales. "

There's no plastics angle here, but one reason I'm sharing this story is because I expect that some readers won't notice that (or care). They'll forward the news anyway. It's a victory for American manufacturing, and every little victory is meaningful. At some point, someone will likely cite it as an example of plastics processing work coming back to the USA. (Especially since Newell Rubbermaid Inc. is mentioned near the bottom of the story. But note that Newell Rubbermaid is not the company bringing work back to America. It's Regal Ware.)

So let's be clear: this is not a case of plastics work coming back to the United States, and it's not a sign that Newell Rubbermaid has seen the error of its ways and is going to stop outsourcing.

We remain interested in any true stories about plastics work coming back to the USA. If you know any, I encourage you to share them in the comments box.

The Boston Globe's Sunday magazine had a big feature story about plastics yesterday, and it's noteworthy that the story was quite positive. It feels a little weird blogging on this one, since I'm a source quoted in the story. But a half dozen people who saw the story yesterday have already mentioned it to me today. So I thought I should point it out to those who missed it.

The story has a headline that will attract attention, especially from plastics industry members used to negative media attention. The title: "In Praise of Plastic: Why an oil-sucking, landfill-clogging, non-biodegradable, it's-everywhere material is so good for the environment. Really."

Here's a taste of the story:

Plastic -- symbol of a bankrupt consumer society from its maxed-out credit cards to its obsession with in-bulk acquisition -- is about as popular these days as an oil spill. People love to hate plastic for the petroleum used to produce it, for the litter it becomes, for the space it takes up in landfills, and the damage it can do in oceans. At one point this year in the United States alone, the plastics industry faced some 400 pieces of anti-plastics legislation, including one on Beacon Hill and another in Plymouth. Plastic bags -- for the plastic-haters, anyway -- are especially evil. The goal of most of the proposed laws is taxing the use of plastic bags or banning them outright. And though most have failed or wound up tabled, the anti-plastics people have had their victories, too. Namely, Seattle.

In July, the city of Seattle banned polystyrene takeout food packaging (think Styrofoam coffee cups or soup bowls) and placed a 20-cent tax on plastic bags that is set to go into effect January 1. The City Council's vote, supported by the mayor, shook a plastics industry that was still reeling from a panic in the spring. Parents concerned over the use of a possibly harmful chemical called bisphenol A, found in some clear plastic baby bottles among other things, ditched the bottles in droves, and some stores and manufacturers did the same. Then there was the phthalate ban, enacted by Congress over the summer, singling out yet another worrisome chemical often found in plastic toys.

Overall, it has been a bad year for plastics. But, quietly, the plastics industry, plastics engineers, and plastics lovers -- yes, they do exist -- are making a case for what may be a misunderstood touchstone of our times. "We see the legislative debates as an opportunity to tell the story of plastics," says Steve Russell, managing director of the plastics division at the American Chemistry Council, the group that represents the plastics industry. "And we believe there's a great story to tell." Plastics, Russell and others argue, aren't just durable, convenient, and inexpensive to manufacture; innovative new plastic packaging is actually more energy-efficient than other alternatives and helps users reduce, not increase, their carbon footprints.

The story goes on to tout the benefits of plastics in packaging, automobiles, aircraft and construction.

The underlying message is that plastics have plenty of positive attributes and don't deserve the bad reputation they have accumulated over the years.

But the industry's poor recycling record is front-and-center. "... Plastics are recyclable, able in most cases to be used over and over again," the story states. "The problem is, Americans, even as global warming becomes an accepted truth, don't take recycling seriously. In 2006, Americans consumed more than 29 million tons of plastic, but recycled just 2 million tons of it, a paltry 7 percent."

I have a feeling some in the plastics industry will miss that point and focus instead on the rare praise found elsewhere in the article.

Regardless, I'm pleased to see that reporter Keith O'Brien did such a thorough, well written story about plastics. I will be recommending the article to others who are looking for background information about the industry.

Here's an attention-getting idea for plastics recyclers that are looking for some attention from their local media: a company in Tempe, Ariz., has set up a program to recycle campaign signs after election day.

Most of the signs are made out of corrugated plastic sheet, so there's obviously some value to the material. So Plastics General Inc. is willing to grind old signs and sell the material to processors to make new products, according to this story from The Arizona Republic.

"There are a lot of applications for these materials," Bill Wiess, ombudsman for Plastics General, told the newspaper. "It's a renewable resource and it's better than a landfill."

The company has even set up drop-off locations where candidates can bring signs to be recycled after the Nov. 4 election. Good idea!

Shop-Vac Corp. is shutting down a manufacturing plant in Union, N.Y., that includes plastics processing, according to local news reports. The company, which makes a well known line of wet/dry utility vacuums, told workers and local officials about the news last week, according to this story from the Binghamton, N.Y., Press & News-Bulletin.

The story quotes David Grill, the company's senior VP and chief financial officer, saying that the company decided to close the plant after an internal study that found that operating two manufacturing centers -- the other is at the firm's headquarters in Williamsport, Pa. -- was too expensive.

"We've retrenched back to our historical setup where we assemble the vacuums here in Williamsport," he said. Shop-Vac leased the 215,000-square-foot building in Union from National Pipe & Plastics Inc. in Vestal, N.Y.

Nina Ying Sun, one of our assistant managing editors at Plastics News, tried to get more information about the Union plant's plastics operations, but Grill declined to answer her questions. We were able to get some dated information from the company's last annual report (filed in 1999). At the time, the company was investing in its plastics operations:

The Company has recently begun to manufacture motors and plastic parts for other consumer product manufacturers. This allows the Company to make profitable use of manufacturing capacity which is not required for its primary business. This business accounted for approximately 2% of the Company's net sales in 1998.

The local news reports note that Shop-Vac will offer jobs to some of the 200 workers currently employed at the Union plant.