Delta Plastics acquires California plastic bag company

Little Rock, Arkansas-based Delta Plastics has acquired California-based plastics firm Command Packaging, along with its Encore Recycling subsidiary. Command Packaging, based in Los Angeles, makes plastic carryout bags for the food service, grocery and retail markets. Encore Recycling, located in Salinas, California, describes itself as California’s “only manufacturer of high-quality postconsumer recycled polyethylene film-grade resin.”

Delta Plastics makes agricultural plastic polytube and recycled-content trash bags.

“As leading consumer brand initiatives and government regulations such as California’s SB270 bag law, requiring postconsumer resin, continues to grow, demand for high-quality sustainable plastic packaging is increasing,” says Pete Grande, CEO of Command Packaging and Encore Recycling. “It became obvious we needed a growth partner to accelerate our expansion and meet the growing demands of the markets we serve. The ability to manufacture Command’s product line in Delta’s Arkansas and Texas facilities will also be a great benefit to our customers in the Midwest and East. Merging the two companies together creates impressive synergies for both companies.”

Comments Sean Whiteley, CEO of Delta Plastics, “Expansion west has been a significant part of our strategic growth plans. California has an abundance of plastic scrap that can and should be recycled. The opportunity to immediately manufacture Delta products in California is a tremendous opportunity for us to accelerate the implementation of our plan. With Delta’s extensive collection capabilities, within weeks we can begin recycling millions more pounds of plastic otherwise destined for landfills. We will also be positioned to support California’s goal of 75 percent recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste by 2020.”

Command Packaging will continue to operate as an independent business unit, while Encore Recycling will be integrated into Delta Plastics’ recycling business unit, according to the two companies.

Dhu Thompson, Delta Plastics owner and chairman, remarks, “Combining Delta’s 24 years of recycling expertise with California’s only recycler of agricultural plastic film creates North America’s largest supplier of high-quality, film-grade, postconsumer recycled resin. Considering the direction our customers and markets are moving, we have an unrivaled advantage today, and we will continue to build upon this foundation for years to come.”

In addition to its Little Rock plant, where the company makes its Revolution Bag line of recycled-content plastic blown film and trash bags, the company operates an agricultural plastics recycling operation in Stuttgart, Arkansas. The company also had previously expanded into California with the formation of Revolution Plastics, collecting more than 10,000 tons per year of used agricultural plastic in the state. Delta Plastics is also the parent company of Rodeo Plastics, which it acquired in 2017. That firm produces a range of industrial plastic films and bags.