Plastics & Rubber

The plastics and rubber industry consists of all plastic and rubber products. In Iowa this industry is mainly plastic molding.

There are 191 plastics & rubber industry employers in the state of Iowa, employing 13,770 people. The plastics & rubber industry contributes $766,000,000 to the Gross State Product, which is 4% of the manufacturing GSP. The distribution of employees by county is displayed below:

> 200 151-200 101-150 51-100 0-50

CIRAS provides education and technical assistance to Iowa manufacturers in the areas of engineering, management practices, procurement, productivity, and quality management.

General industry links are highlighted below. Please contact the webmaster if you are aware of additional plastics & rubber industry-related educational links that you feel would benefit Iowa manufacturers.

Background Information

• Polymer Library

Journals and Magazines

• Modern Plastics
• Plastics Technology
• Plastics Today
• Rubber and Plastics News

Professional Organizations

• American Plastics Council
• Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers
• International Association of Plastics Distributors
• North American Recycled Rubber Association
• Society of Plastic Engineers
• Society of the Plastics Industry

Third Party Resources

• 123 Plastics
• Plastics.com
• PlasticsNews.net
• PlasticsNews.com
• Plastics Technology

Sources

1. Bureau of Economic Analysis: Regional Accounts GSP data (2000)
2. Harris Selectory, June 2002

E-mail: ciras.info@iastate.edu