Plastics

Indiana to be home to plastics recycling, fuel project

GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana has announced plans to build a recycling center and a scrap-plastics-to-fuel facility in Camden, Indiana, to process plastics recovered from auto shredder residue (ASR).

GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana is a joint venture between U.S. Energy Logistics, Toledo, Ohio, and GEP Fuels. The company says it plans to invest $100 million to build a 450,000-square-foot recycling facility in Camden that will feature a sorting line made by Green Machine, Hampstead, New Hampshire, and $200 million to build a facility to convert low-value plastic scrap into fuel for the transportation sector.

Construction is expected to start by the first quarter of 2017, GEP Fuel & Energy says.

Don Willis, who will head the recycling project, says high-value plastic scrap will be processed and shipped to end markets such as the auto industry. The low-value and no-value plastic processed at the recycling center will be transported to the renewable energy facility via conveyor.

Steve Hogan, president of GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana, says, “Carroll County made sense because of its close proximity to consumer plastic. There was also a logistics advantage in locating the project on railroad operated by U.S. Rail Corp. Thirdly, state and local officials offered strong support.”

Hogan estimates that the recycling center will accept 1 million tons of ASR per year, or roughly 40 rail cars per day.

The combined capital investment for the project is $303 million to $410 million. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana up to $2 million in conditional, performance-based tax credits based on the company’s job creation plans.

SPI rebrands as Plastics Industry Association

SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, Washington, has announced its new name: Plastics Industry Association, or Plastics for short. The organization also unveiled a new website, www.plasticsindustry.org. The association’s new identity builds upon nearly 80 years of a strong history of fostering collaboration among the entire plastics supply chain, it says.

“To continue to drive the industry forward for decades to come, our board of directors made a decision to evolve our purpose-driven organization,” says William R. Carteaux, association president and CEO. “We’re not a society; we’re an association that helps to shape the future of the industry. Our new identity as the Plastics Industry Association reflects the way forward.”

The association unveiled a new logo, which it says represents the six facets of the plastics industry supply chain: brand owners, equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, moldmakers, processors and recyclers. Because the plastics industry is looking to grow and support sustainability and facilitate recycling, the association added its first-ever tagline: “Better Industry. Better World.”