Plastic Technologies gets grant from Ohio
HOLLAND, OHIO—Plastic Technologies Inc. of Holland has received a grant for $139,835 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Plastic Technologies is working with the Lucas County Solid Waste District to develop technology to purify and recycle PET that meets Food and Drug Administration direct-contact packaging guidelines, said Thomas Brady, president of Plastic Technologies.
The grant will be used to buy equipment. Details were not given.
A pilot plant for research will be in Bowling Green, Ohio, in Plastic Technologies' sister company, Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Phoenix recycles PET with a melt filtration process and sells the material to bottle makers.
APC funding helps Epic to get its start
RICHMOND, CALIF. — Epic Plastics, a Richmond-based recycler, entered the plastic lumber industry early in June with a $25,000 grant from the American Plastics Council of Washington.
``After three years of research and development with assistance from the American Plastics Council and the Alameda County Recycling Board, Epic Plastics has now moved to full production of highly durable recycled plastic lumber and garden edging,'' said Epic President Craig Boblitt.
The firm recycles and brokers post-consumer and post-industrial high density polyethylene and has one lumber line running. Before entering the plastic lumber business, Epic had three employees. Now the firm employs 10.
The 10-year-old company received the APC grant to purchase equipment when it was in the research and development phase. APC also helped with Epic's plastic lumber opening and public awareness campaign.
``We saw this as an opportunity,'' Boblitt said. ``We'd been a broker for 10 years and wanted to get a hand in finished goods.''
Boblitt also invested ``hundreds of thousands'' of dollars, but declined to give exact figures.
Epic plastic lumber is distributed at about 100 California lumber outlets.
##
Dow retains company to recover containers
ELMHURST, ILL. — Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich., has entered into a national container management agreement with Return Logistics Inc. of Elmhurst.
The agreement provides Dow a used container management system for plastic and steel drums and pails at about 10 sites. It also lets Dow assist its customers with empty package removal.
``Return Logistics will manage packaging that enters Dow's manufacturing sites as well as drums going out,'' said Greg Bond, Dow's corporate director of product responsibility.
Company officials would not disclose how many containers are being collected and reconditioned or the cost of the program.