In early 2020, I was offered development funding from Erie Insurance and the Prischak family of Plastek Group to realize my almost two-decade dream of building a hyper-scale mechanical post-consumer recycling (PCR) plant to handle any and all plastics. Just before closing the deal, Dennis Prischak approached me almost sheepishly. "We have one more request," he said before handing over the check. "Are you willing to move to Erie to develop this project?"
I looked at him, a little taken aback, and tried to figure out if this was a bit of fun at the expense of the new guy. Understand, I'm a Brooklyn-born native New Yorker. I've lived in New York City virtually my entire life. I said, "It's not that far away, Dennis. A short flight to Buffalo from Laguardia and then a quick 80 minute drive. I'll be here all the time."
"No," he replied. "That doesn't work for us."
I realized he was serious. "You need to move here, Mitch. You need to become a permanent member of the Erie community. You need to live here."
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. And then, almost instinctively like when you know, without really knowing why, you up the ante on a poker hand that is not particularly compelling, I said, "I'm in, Dennis. Yes. I'm all in."
Had I known then what I know now, I would not have considered any other possibility. A few days later a member of the local Chamber of Commerce said to me almost conspiratorially, "You know you need to be seen here. People need to get to know you. This town doesn't trust helicopter investors."
Many Plastics News readers are familiar with the IRG project, and the significant milestone we achieved last summer when the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $182 million conditional loan commitment to support what will be a $300 million, 160,000 tons per year bale-to-pellet facility producing PET, high density polyethylene and polypropylene.
Years before receiving this great news, I followed Dennis and the Chamber's advice and made it my goal to "Communicate. Communicate. Communicate." I gathered up the names of anyone in the town who might be a thought leader; from local city and county officials, to community organizers, church leaders, leaders in the business community, academics at the local colleges, and most importantly activists in the Environmental justice community where we intended to build our plant, who would be most impacted by our facility.
I spent my mornings in coffee meetups, my afternoons at neighborhood diners over meatball omelets (a thing in Erie), and evenings over dive bar wings while watching the Browns, Bills and Steelers.
I listened, I talked, I worked with everyone I could to understand their issues, their concerns, their fears, and their hopes for jobs and spurring Erie's economy. They wanted to know about employment. But also about how we intended to keep the area safe and how it would impact the neighborhoods they lived in. Every single person I met with was well-intentioned, wanted the best for their family, and were smart and reasonable.
Yet after just four weeks of us announcing our funding to build our plant in Erie, a downstate environmental group called PennFuture wrote in a letter to the local paper that it was a bad deal for the city. This, despite the fact that we hadn't even designed our plant yet. So how could PennFuture have known anything about our business plan?
Despite that, over the following years we pushed ahead and embraced and supported the Environmental justice community; working together on a Community Benefits Agreement that included a pledge for jobs to go first to city residents, to pay a living wage, and supported community centers providing education and after-school activities for newly arrived Americans.
But the attacks from outside groups kept coming. After we received our DoE conditional loan commitment, a sophisticated disinformation campaign was launched to cast doubt on the viability and environmental benefits of plastics recycling. The arguments made against our project, none of which were based on facts or science, reflected a lack of the most basic understanding of our business plan by the activists. They knew little about plastics production, waste management systems, recycling or manufacturing. I had made myself available to speak to anyone in Erie that wanted to talk to me about our plant. Yet these campaigners never once reached out to me.
Virtually all of the attacks were initiated by PennFuture and Beyond Plastics. Judith Enck, the founder of Beyond Plastics, led the charge in pushing complete falsehoods about our project with absolutely no science credentials to her name.
In a letter asking Secretary of Energy Granholm to revoke our loan offer, Ms. Enck claimed that "106 environmental and community groups" signed her letter opposing our project. When we checked all the names the reality was only 10 "groups" signed, and calling these organizations "environmental and community-based" seemed more than fishy. One was Elaine Products, a for-profit hair and skin care business, and another was an outfit called Meliori Cleaning Products. The other 96 names were all individuals associated with each other with no obvious expertise in anything.
Perhaps the most egregious and infuriating falsehood spread by Beyond Plastics and PennFuture is that we intended to burn plastics. Their motive, obviously, is to stir fear of toxic fumes being released into the air. The reason we're sending the nonrecyclable plastic fraction from our yield loss to a blast furnace is that a blast furnace doesn't "burn" anything. The blast furnace is an oxygen-deprived environment at 3,200° F. The material is volatilized without any possible production of dioxins or furans. Countries like Germany and Japan have used this process as a safe, effective, and environmentally sound way to keep plastics out of landfills for nearly 30 years.
As frustrating as these attacks are, they have had no material impact on the support my project maintains from the vast majority of those living in Erie. Most importantly, I have developed a strong, personal bond with the leadership of the Environmental justice community, with whom I work hand-in-glove every day to raise up the quality of life of its residents and create opportunities for advancement. When the outside activists tried to gather opposition to our project, the Environmental justice community leaders were actually the first ones to defend it, and the disinformation campaign got no traction. Dennis Prischak's request for me to move to the place in which I planned to build this project has proven to be the best advice I have ever received.
IRG represents a transformative investment in recycling infrastructure, providing economic growth, dramatically and permanently lowering the cost of mechanically recycled PCR, and reducing reliance on virgin plastics. Our success would make a lasting impact nationally and generate billions of dollars in economic benefits for Erie and the surrounding region. I'm deeply grateful to everyone who has helped shape this project, and I remain committed to seeing it through.
Mitch Hecht is CEO of International Recycling Group of Erie, Pa.