The aftermath of the winter storm in Texas that caused widespread damage and power outages is now causing a shortage of plastic and headaches for many manufacturers, like Confer Plastics in North Tonawanda. 

"This loss of materials comes at what could be considered the worst time possible," said Bob Confer, president of Confer Plastics.

It's a family-owned business that's been around for 48 years. But the business is facing a challenge different than any it’s seen in nearly a half-century of existence.

"We’ve never had to do it, we never had to do it during the oil embargoes in the 1970s. We didn’t have to do it for the Great Recession, we didn’t have to do it for COVID," he said. "That’s how bad this is."

This is a shortage of raw material, the polyethylene plastic they use to make things like swimming pool ladders and hot tub cabinets, caused by the winter storm that rocked the state of Texas in mid-February. The cold and ice knocked out power and froze production pipelines.

Confer Plastics is down to 25 or 30% of the normal supply, much of it from Texas.

"So we’ve had to ration that material, shutdown machines and then layoff people. Unfortunately, we’ve got 40 people layed off," Confer said, who's hopeful to bring back some of that workforce soon.

This should be one of Confer’s busiest times, with demand high for pool and hot tub components while people stay home more often and make improvements to their own backyards more because of the pandemic. For the first time, they’ve had to declare force majeure, or problems caused by events out of their control.

"We can’t meet contractual obligations in terms of delivery, timing, pricing, all that stuff," Confer said.

And Confer’s general manager believes the ripple effect could hit other plastic consumer goods across the country, like beverage containers and packing supplies, potentially driving up prices.

"I think this is going to crop up and be a bigger story a couple weeks down the line," said General Manager Cliff Hoover.

"Empty shelves at grocery stores, department stores. Also we’ll see it as e-retailers are going to have empty warehouses," added Confer.

For now, Confer Plastics is doing as much as they can, but Plastics News reports it could be until the second half of the year before production fully ramps up again.   

The trickle down of storm first felt in the Lone Star State — affecting many more states.