A new tenant coming to the Augusta Corporate Park off Mike Padgett Highway has the green light to close on the property designated for the project.
PureCycle Technologies, Inc., a Florida-based company that converts #5 plastic waste to a renewable resource, announced it has received approval from the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) to proceed to closing on the project site. The approval preserves financial and tax incentives offered to the company and allows it to move forward with development.
“This approval is the result of several months of hard work to secure the funding required for at least one purification line and close collaboration with the local community,” said PureCycle CEO, Dustin Olson. “PureCycle is extremely grateful to the AEDA for their ongoing support to help bring PureCycle’s sustainable solution to the world.”
The project was announced in March 2022 in the company’s fourth quarter of 2021 update. In the report, the company said it had a $250 million private equity capital to support building the Augusta facility, along with other purposes.
PureCycle also announced it will use Koch Modular Process Systems, LLC to supply the modular recycling systems for the Augusta plant. Koch, headquartered in Paramus, New Jersey, supplied a similar system for PureCycle’s first facility in Ohio.
“Working alongside PureCycle on the Ironton Feedstock Evaluation Unit and multiple commercial-scale projects, demonstrates our continued commitment to supporting PureCycle’s disruptive technology,” said Brian Loftus, Vice President of Koch Modular Process Systems. “This agreement opens up more possibilities to address the global need for an environmentally responsible plastics lifecycle.”
“As PureCycle continues to grow, there is a clear need to expand our relationship with a partner that fully understands the history of our disruptive technology,” said Olson. “Our goal is one billion pounds of like-new, ultra-pure recycled plastic production capacity, and with Koch Modular, I am confident that we will succeed.”
The groundbreaking for the facility was held in late March 2022, although construction did not begin immediately. Cal Wray, President of AEDA, said to receive approval, the facility in Ironton had to be in operation. That happened a few weeks ago.
Crews from the Augusta Utilities Department are working to lay pipelines for water and sewer to the site. Personnel from Atlanta Gas Light are installing high-pressure gas pipelines and Uniti crews are preparing the site for high-speed fiber.
The plant’s recycled plastic can be used to make products consumers use on a regular basis, such as cosmetics, plastic containers, and yogurt cups.
The 200-acre location in Augusta Corporate Park will create over 80 manufacturing jobs with an initial $440 million investment.
Olson said, “We’re excited for PureCycle to expand and Augusta is the perfect home for our second purification complex.”
