A novel environmentally friendly food packaging company will open a facility in Berkeley County, bringing 600 jobs to the region.
Governor Jim Justice announced the novel economic project on Thursday during West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Economic Summit in his luxury resort The Greenbrier.
Treplar will invest $50 million in the state and is opening a plant in Martinsburg. Justice said the plant will be operational in the next few months.
“Treplar is currently testing a new generation of food packaging material that is 100% home compostable,” the Republican governor said.
The company’s mission is to “help food companies seamlessly transition from banned single-use plastic to a more sustainable product that benefits our industry – and the planet,” the website.
Treplar produces trays, plates and more for the food retail industry using a technology called “XPET”, a sustainable solution for difficult-to-recycle polystyrene trays.
“Our new project is a catalyst for change,” said Murat Ogulcan, president of Treplar, who thanked the governor for his support. “We have found a new home in West Virginia.”
The governor’s office said the company did not receive any incentives to establish itself in West Virginia.
The summit has so far been packed with economic announcements for the state, including an $800 million reboot for the Pleasants Power Station in St. Marys and a program which aims to keep graduates of Marshall University and West Virginia University in the state.
The event, attended by heads of state and business owners, ends on Friday.
Many of the announcements focused on reversing the state’s population decline – the fastest in the country – by creating jobs and incentives to stay in the state.
“What’s happening in this state is definitely a movement toward jobs and opportunity for our children,” said Justice, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in the 2024 election.
Following the announcement, Justice said he would leave the resort to investigate Flood damage in the state. The governor explained An emergency in five West Virginia counties – Kanawha, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay and Roane – due to massive rain and flooding.
