PolyQuest appoints new president

Wilmington, North Carolina-based PolyQuest Inc., a distributor of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a manufacturer of recycled PET (rPET), appointed Tod Durst to president Aug. 1. He previously served as executive vice president at PolyQuest since 2014.

John Marinelli, the company’s founder and acting president since 2000, will continue to serve the company as chief executive officer and as chairman, focusing on strategic growth initiatives and customer relationships.

Durst brings nearly 30 years of management and operational experience in the intermediate chemicals and thermoplastics industry to his new role as president. He oversees key raw materials sourcing, supply chain management, manufacturing and global commercial aspects of PolyQuest’s business, according to a news release from the company.

“We have been extremely fortunate to have built unbreakable bonds with our strategic suppliers and customers since inception,” Marinelli says. “Tod has been critically involved in these relationships and, at the same time, has learned our business comprehensively from the ground up at the granular level. His experience, knowledge, business acumen and unwavering commitment to our customers ensures a seamless transition as we change roles.”

“At its core, PolyQuest will always be the resin supplier that offers the most comprehensive, tailored virgin and/or recycled resin supply solutions to its customers,” Durst says. “A lot of companies just sell resin. We collaborate with our customers and provide the total resin supply solution they require—which always includes the resin, but as importantly, also includes exceptional customer service, logistics, inventory management, regulatory compliance, various recycling alternatives, etc. Our primary strategic objective with a customer is to develop the kind of relationship where we operate as ‘one’. These tailored solutions have always been paramount but have become even more critical in the disruption economy we currently face.”

PolyQuest is a privately held company headquartered in Wilmington with facilities in Darlington, South Carolina, and Farmingdale, New York, and European offices in Austria. In addition to recycling PET and distributing PET resins, the company distributes polypropylene and high-impact polystyrene resins.