The state Department of Environmental Quality’s Recycling Program recently provided $574,000 in recycling business development grants to 21 North Carolina recycling companies that are expected to create 66 jobs and generate more than $2.1 million in new, private business investments while reducing the state’s dependence on landfill disposal.
“Recycling businesses benefit the state’s long-term economic development while working to provide a cleaner environment for future generations,” said DEQ Secretary Michael Regan. “The projects funded by these grants build lasting ways to divert materials from the waste stream, redirect recyclables back into the economy as manufacturing feedstock and spur job growth. It just shows that the environment and industry are not mutually exclusive.”
The recycling business grantees from 17 counties, representing both large and small companies. Types of grant projects awarded include:
- Expanding plastic processing capacity: 10 companies will increase the quantities and types of recyclable plastic they are able to process such as agricultural plastic, PVC, polystyrene (Styrofoam) and post-industrial plastic.
- Upgrading material recovery facilities: Two companies will install glass clean-up systems, while another will install an optical sorter – these upgrades will improve material quality and processing efficiency.
- Building recycled end-product manufacturing capacity: Two companies will manufacture new products using recycled wood waste and plastic, respectively.
- Increasing processing capacity of other recyclable materials: Four companies will either increase electronics recycling, process tires into crumb rubber for manufacturing or increase recovery of wood waste from pallets and construction and demolition debris.
- Expanding residential curbside recycling: Two companies will offer curbside recycling collection to new customers in rural areas.
Grants are offered each year, depending on funding availability, to reduce the flow of solid waste into landfills and strengthen the state’s recycling economy. Recipients are required to provide a minimum cash match of 50 percent of the grant award; however, the level of private investment in 2018 is expected to nearly quadruple the total grant funding. The combination of grant and private dollars will result in a $2.7 million investment in the state’s recycling infrastructure while supporting the local economy.
The Recycling Business Assistance Center (RBAC) in DEQ’s Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service works one-on-one with recycling companies provide technical, business, and financial assistance. Throughout the past five years, RBAC has awarded $3.3 million in grant funding to 90 recycling companies statewide. The program has led to nearly $28 million in private investment, created more than 250 new, full-time jobs and diverted an average of an additional 170,000 tons of materials each year from landfill disposal.
A full list of the 21 business recipients and descriptions of the projects can be found below or at: https://deq.nc.gov/conservation/recycling-business-assistance/financing/grants/2018. For information about the grant program, go to: https://deq.nc.gov/conservation/recycling-business-assistance/financing/grants.
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|
GRANTEE |
GRANT AMOUNT |
COMPANY MATCH |
JOB CREATION |
COUNTY |
PROJECT SUMMARY |
|
Abbey Green, Inc. |
$ 32,000 |
$ 148,000 |
2 |
Forsyth |
Abbey Green will purchase a finger screen and fines conveyor to increase recovery rates and improve operational efficiency. |
|
AEIPLUS Inc. |
$ 30,000 |
$ 40,000 |
10 |
Gaston |
AEIPLUS Inc. will purchase a sand remover for agricultural film to improve the quality of the film and increase recyclability, thereby opening up new markets for this material. |
|
Bromley Plastics |
$ 40,000 |
$ 20,077 |
5 |
Henderson |
Bromley Plastics will purchase a chopper/shredder that will eliminate downtime and increase productivity and processing capacity by 33 percent. |
|
Brunson Recycling |
$ 20,000 |
$ 29,580 |
6 |
McDowell |
Brunson Recycling will purchase a guillotine roll shear to target HDPE and PVC roll feedstocks. |
|
Colt Recycling Southeast |
$ 20,000 |
$ 24,598 |
5 |
Catawba |
Colt Recycling will purchase a steel building to securely unload recyclable electronics and increase processing capacity. |
|
Commercial Plastics Recycling |
$ 20,000 |
$ 59,474 |
2 |
Catawba |
Commercial Plastics Recycling will purchase a pipe grinder to grind PVC plastic from construction and demolition projects in NC. |
|
Curbside Management, Inc. |
$ 40,000 |
$ 96,000 |
2 |
Buncombe |
Curbside Management, Inc. will purchase a glass clean-up system to improve material quality and processing efficiency at their single-stream material processing facility. |
|
Enviro Vision Technologies |
$ 40,000 |
$ 47,695 |
4 |
Gaston |
Envirovision will purchase a wash line to expand their post-industrial and post-consumer plastics recycling program. |
|
Foothills Sanitation & Recycling |
$ 30,000 |
$ 118,000 |
2 |
Wilkes |
Foothills Sanitation & Recycling will purchase an optical sorting system to improve material quality and processing efficiency at their single-stream material processing facility. |
|
Green Recycling Solutions Wattles |
$ 16,667 |
$ 12,021 |
5 |
Jones |
Green Recycling Solutions Wattles will purchase a chip screw to process recovered wood material from their sister company's construction and demolition recycling processing facility. |
|
HighCube |
$ 21,067 |
$ 10,533 |
3 |
Durham |
HighCube will purchase two shredders to increase capacity for recycling expanded polystyrene into new finished goods. |
|
Holmes Iron & Metal |
$ 20,000 |
$ 980,000 |
5 |
Rowan |
Holmes Iron & Metal will purchase a plastics wash line and granulator to expand recycling capacity of plastic material from industrial clients. |
|
Kamlar Corporation |
$ 30,000 |
$ 16,000 |
2 |
Nash |
Kamlar will purchase an excavator to process lower-value wooden pallets, separating other packaging materials and increasing processing capacity at their recycled pallet manufacturing facility. |
|
New River Tire |
$ 30,000 |
$ 336,612 |
3 |
Surry |
New River Tire Recycling will purchase a new cracker mill material processor to double the company's throughput of crumb rubber and allow use of car tire material to produce crumb rubber. |
|
North Davidson Garbage |
$ 30,000 |
$ 33,650 |
2 |
Davidson |
North Davidson Garbage will purchase 65-gallon recycling carts to expand curbside recycling collection to new and existing customers. |
|
Pelican Packaging |
$ 40,000 |
$ 39,770 |
2 |
Halifax |
Pelican Packaging will purchase a baler to increase processing capacity of post-industrial plastic. |
|
Plastic Materials |
$ 17,120 |
$ 34,240 |
3 |
Gaston |
Plastic Materials will purchase two forklifts that will allow dedicated equipment on both the production and shipping/receiving operations, thereby increasing production capacity and throughput. |
|
Roll-Tech |
$ 16,780 |
$ 16,780 |
3 |
Catawba |
Roll-Tech will purchase tooling equipment to manufacture recycled plastic wheel hubs and recycled molded rubber tires. |
|
Sanitary Disposal & Recycling |
$ 10,000 |
$ 6,132 |
1 |
Beaufort |
Sanitary Disposal & Recycling will purchase 95-gallon recycling carts to expand curbside recycling collection services in rural communities. |
|
Sonoco Recycling Onslow |
$ 40,000 |
$ 22,450 |
0 |
Onslow |
Sonoco Recycling - Onslow will purchase a glass clean-up system to decrease contamination and increase the value of the recyclable material. |
|
Verity Recycling |
$ 30,000 |
$ 47,584 |
1 |
Randolph |
Verity Recycling will purchase a box truck to expand their agricultural plastics recycling program. |
|
TOTALS |
$573,634 |
$2,139,197 |
66 |
|
|