(This article originally was published in LVEDC's Q1 2024 Commercial Real Estate Report).
In the Lehigh Valley’s storied Slate Belt, once the world’s largest producer of slate, a cutting-edge manufacturer is making a very different type of material that is propelling the 21st century economy: plastics.
Ultra-Poly Corporation, a 50-year-old family-owned company that is now among North America’s five largest asset-based plastic recyclers, recycles up to 320 million pounds of plastics – the weight of about 97,000 Mack Truck sleeper cabs – each year. 
The company handles difficult materials like large plastic sheets, broom bristles, and large streams of post-consumer film essential to the building supply, consumer packaging, and home goods industries. Ultra-Poly’s innovative processes have produced award winning initiatives, including turning old car bumpers into plastic pellets and selling them back to automakers.
Now, Ultra-Poly, which operates in five locations across Pennsylvania, is planning its third recycling facility in the Lehigh Valley, adding another 50 jobs and bringing its Lehigh Valley workforce to 200.
“We are seeing an increased demand that is ultimately driven by the general public which has an increased interest in environmental issues and recycled materials,” Ultra-Poly President David La Fiura said. “That has resonated with companies that deliver products in plastic packaging. They are calling on us to increase recycled content.”
Ultra-Poly is among a growing niche of plastic producers in the Lehigh Valley, helping to propel Pennsylvania as the sixth largest plastics producer in the nation. The Lehigh Valley is home to 46 plastics product manufacturing establishments, including Fuling and Alpla. Recent arrivals include Axium Packaging, Pianca Packaging, Panda International, SR Packaging, and Schless Bottles.
Collectively, the industry employs 2,500 people here, about twice the employment concentration as the typical U.S. region. Plastics jobs are growing at an annualized rate of 1.8%, about 2.5 times as fast as other employment in the Lehigh Valley’s growing economy.
The demand for plastic is very closely tied to manufacturing, a leading driver of the Lehigh Valley’s $50.2 billion economy. Plastics are needed for the production of parts, and packaging and shipping. With recent U.S. policies encouraging manufacturing to ramp up, the industry is poised for expansion.
“Plastics production supports the Lehigh Valley’s $8.1 billion manufacturing industry, which produces everything from bottled water to IV fluids,” said Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman, Vice President of Business Development and Attraction at Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC).
“Those companies are choosing the Lehigh Valley because of our strategic location, growing workforce, and technical education partners training the talent needed for manufacturing to thrive here.”
The Lehigh Valley sits in the heart of the Northeast market with one-third of the U.S. population within a day’s drive. The region has access to an international airport, world-class network of interstate highways, modern rail, and an intermodal center. Its location provides incredible access to raw materials. Educational and workforce development assets include three technical schools and 11 colleges and universities including Lehigh University, home to one of the nation’s leading material science programs.
Shelly McWilliams, President of Lehigh Valley Plastics, said her company is considering expanding its 55,000-square-foot facility in Bethlehem Township because there is a good pipeline of talent being developed locally by the top-tier machining programs in the area.
“Our retention rate with co-op students from the local tech schools has been really great,” she said. “We’ve been able to grow some talented machinists.”
Lehigh Valley Plastics is a made-to-order machine shop, fabricator, and distributor of advanced plastic components and materials, offering design and engineering support. Its products are used by the heavy equipment, transportation, energy, medical, materials handling, agriculture, food and beverage, electronics, technology, and defense industries, among others.
Polymer Contours, Inc. of Allentown is among the plastics manufacturers that recently expanded in the Lehigh Valley. A full-service injection molding company, Polymer Contours specializes in production focused on custom plastic part design/engineering and full mold design/build capability.
The company offers several value-add services such as insert molding, heat staking, pad printing, prototyping, custom packaging, and assembly.
Polymer Contours manufactures components that are used in medical devices, electronics, boats, consumer goods, and adhesives, among others. It services a diverse range of markets including medical, consumer enclosures, construction, industrial, and marine. 
Formerly located in the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, a business incubator operated by the Allentown Economic Development Corp., the company was determined to stay in the Lehigh Valley and relocated to a space in early 2023 that is 10 times larger.
“I want to be a part of growing it even stronger and eventually giving back to the very same community that propped me up – I really don’t see myself anywhere else,” said President and CEO Tyson Daniels.
(Top photo courtesy of Ultra-Poly Corporation. Middle photo by Donna Fisher Photography. Bottom photo courtesy of Polymer Contours.)