Dart Container Corporation of

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, is the world's largest manufacturer of foam cups and containers, producing about as many as all competitors combined.Hoovers factsheet
/ref> Dart Container is privately held by the Dart family. In May 2012, Dart acquired Illinois-based

Solo Cup Company Solo Cup Company is an American manufacturer of disposable consumer products including beverage cups, disposable plates, and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. On May 4, 2012, Sol ...

and now has approximately 15,000 employees and more than 45 production, distribution center, and office locations in eight countries.

Company history

Dart Manufacturing Company was founded in 1937 by William F. Dart as a machine shop, manufacturing key rings, steel tape measures, and dog tags for the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

. When his son, William A. Dart, came out of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with three degrees (

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

), he worked for

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

briefly, then joined the family business in the late 1950s. He experimented with and perfected an expandable

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

(EPS) molding process, and shipped their first insulated foam cups in April 1960. Dart Container Corporation was incorporated in 1960. On September 17, 2019, Dart had partnered with

Keep America Beautiful Keep America Beautiful is a nonprofit organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with more than 700 state and community-based affiliate organizations and more than 1,000 partner organiz ...

Operations

Dart Container Corporation is

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...

, which, according to the company, makes it "virtually self-sufficient". In 2006, Family Business ranked Dart Container 37th in its listing of family companies, with an estimated $1.1 billion in sales, and 4,950 employees.

Solo Cup Company

Dart Container purchased

in May 2012 in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion. The iconic Solo red cup was slated to remain under the Solo name.Solo Cup Dart Container Purchase
/ref>

IRS controversy

The company is owned by brothers Kenneth B. Dart and Robert C. Dart, who renounced their U.S. citizenship in 1994. Kenneth Dart then established a relationship with the nation of

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, which promptly sought U.S. permission to open a consulate in Sarasota with Dart as its consul. The request was rejected by the State Department, and the brothers eventually moved to the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

.Their cups runneth over
/ref> They have several business concerns on the islands, including Dart Enterprises which is a holding company involved in several projects,Dart Enterprises
/ref> including the Camana Bay town development.Camana Bay - The Team
/ref> In 2001, the US

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

said the Dart brothers improperly billed $11.6 million of personal security costs to Dart Container. In U.S. Tax Court, Dart Container argued the money was a valid business expense due to "specific threats and other facts and circumstances". Half the money went for corporate aircraft. The IRS asked for $4 million more for 1996 and 1997 taxes. In 2003, the Internal Revenue Service took the brothers to court, saying they owed an additional $19 million in 1998 and 1999 taxes. In 2002, the Dart brothers and their companies paid $26 million in

back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or n ...

. In May 2013, fifty agents of the Argentine tax authority raided the local Dart Container subsidiary Dart Sudamericana SRL on alleged tax evasion charges. The tax authority claimed that the firm imported polystrene beads at inflated prices, thus avoiding taxable gains through the unfair transfer pricing scheme.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.dartcontainer.com/ Companies based in Ingham County, Michigan American companies established in 1937 Manufacturing companies established in 1937 1937 establishments in Michigan Privately held companies based in Michigan Manufacturing companies based in Michigan Packaging companies of the United States