The plastics industry's emphasis on sustainability is apparently creating business opportunities for both new and existing companies. In early October, three firms announced plans for new or expanded recycling plants in the United States.
* In Indiana, a company called Perpetual Recycling Solutions announced that it will establish a facility in Richmond that will recycle PET into flake and pellets.
The company said in a news release that it will invest more than $25 million to buy and repurpose an existing 100,000-square-foot facility. The plant will employ 55 by 2012.
The company will receive up to $550,000 in tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and up to $50,000 in training grants. In addition, the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County has also approved a $475,000 grant for equipment, training and real estate improvements. The city of Richmond will consider an additional property tax abatement.
Perpetual Recycling is a unit of ReThink Recycling Group, the Chicago-based company that already has a plant in East Farmingdale, N.Y. The company was founded as Pure Tech Plastics LLC in 1989.
David Bender is CEO of Perpetual Recycling Solutions.
* In New Mexico, JBC International LLC plans to begin construction by the end of the year on a recycling plant in Chaparral, according to the state Economic Development Department.
The 5-year-old company will employ 12 people at the Chaparral operation. JBC already has a recycling operation in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
* In Ohio, Remram Recovery LLC has signed a deal to move into a 32,000-square-foot building in Tupper Plains, near Parkersburg, W.Va.
The company is leasing the building, with an option to buy it, from the Meigs County Community Improvement Corp.
Remram employs six and hopes to add nine more people to its workforce by year's end. Ray Maxson is president of Remram.