A businessman in Grand Rapids, Mich. is proposing to build a $6 million, state-of-the-art facility that could potentially change the way a plastic manufacturer looks at recycling. Along with the environmental benefits, the recycling center would also employ up to 75 people over the next five years upon its scheduled completion in 2010.
Green Mountain Recycling is slated to produce plastic pellets for use in plastics injection molding. The plant will recycle post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste obtained through commodity brokers, some of which are already under contract. The plastics created could be used to produce anything from custom machined parts to display cases for sports memorabilia.
The 75 jobs would be a boon to an industry decimated by the recent economic downturn and decline of the automotive industry, said company founder Jim Watrous.
“West Michigan is a fertile area for very, very talented people in dire need of a job,” Watrous said. “We’ll need people with mechanical skills, some IT skills, electrical skills to run the equipment. We’re not starting a business and hanging a shingle out the door and saying, gee, I hope the phone rings; we’re starting knowing we already have the raw material resources and the customers.”