Georgia- Brightmark is building a big plant to turn plastic trash into stuff that can be used to make new plastic.
Georgia Targeted for $1 Billion Plastic
A company from California wants to spend almost $1 billion in Middle Georgia to construct a factory. This factory will take old plastic and change it into the stuff needed to make new plastics. By doing this, it will prevent hundreds of thousands of tons of waste from ending up in landfills every year.
Brightmark announced plans to build a huge facility in Thomaston, Georgia, halfway between Macon and Columbus. This facility will cover 2.5 million square feet and will be able to handle around 400,000 tons of plastic waste every year. Instead of ending up in landfills, being burned, or polluting waterways, this waste will be processed here. The company is investing $950 million in this project, which will create jobs for 200 people in Upson County. These workers will earn an average salary of about $51,500 per year.
Construction will begin in 2025, and the facility will be ready to open in 2027.
The Brightmark project is a new clean technology project that has come to Georgia. It’s all part of a big push for investments in clean energy. This isn’t the first time Brightmark has tried to build a plastic recycling plant in Georgia.
In Macon, a previous recycling effort got stopped because people worried about the environment and didn’t want diesel fuel as a byproduct. But the CEO of Brightmark, Bob Powell, said their new plant in Thomaston won’t make any fuel.
The factory won’t burn plastics. Instead, Brightmark has special tech that breaks plastics into basic parts. These parts can be used again to make new plastic stuff. Recycling like this helps cut down on using fossil fuels to make new plastics.
In 2022, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory discovered that 95% of plastic in the U.S. isn’t recycled. Brightmark, however, has a technology that can recycle many types of plastic, even the tricky ones from factories. They’ll even take plastic from regular trash pickup services.
Plastics, which come from fossil fuels, are a big source of gases that make our planet warmer. A study by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that making different kinds of plastic produces about 5% of these warming gases around the world.
Plastics often wind up in landfills, rivers, and oceans. Over time, they break into tiny pieces, causing big problems for animals, nature, and people’s health.
Powell, who is from Georgia, started the company in 2016. The new facility, called the “Circularity Center,” will be Brightmark’s second plant in the United States. It will be able to recycle about four times more plastic than the company’s first plant in Indiana.
The centers are all about the company’s goal to “imagine a world without waste,” he explained.
“It’s really important for us to be good community members and take care of the environment,” he said.
Brightmark is putting $1 million into a system called “Zero Liquid Discharge.” This system cleans and reuses water from making plastic instead of letting it go into the local water system. They’re also using $20 million to upgrade roads, railways, and utilities near the Thomaston-Upson County Airport.
Powell explained that the plant will be classified as a “synthetic minor emitter.” The company plans to use the best available technologies to lower emissions. They’ll also seek the necessary permits from state and federal agencies to comply with environmental regulations.
Powell mentioned that his company has been collaborating with Thomaston and Upson officials for almost two years to create the Circularity Center.
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Upson County used to be famous for making linen, especially with Thomaston Mills, a company originally from Pennsylvania. They still have a factory here, but things have changed. Textile making used to be the main thing that brought money to the county, but now it’s not as important as before.
The Upson County Chairman, Norman Allen, said that Brightmark is the biggest company the county has ever attracted. He thinks it will bring more variety to the local economy. If things go well, the new plant could almost double the amount of property taxes the county collects.
Local leaders in Macon knew about the challenges Brightmark was facing. Allen, one of these leaders, said they worked together with the company to deal with environmental worries. They even visited Brightmark’s plant in Indiana and talked to the leaders and people living nearby to understand how it all works and affects the community.
“He believes it’s obvious that both the state and the community should back this initiative. We’re turning useless plastic waste into something valuable.”
Allen also said he wants the project to bring in more companies from the industry.
“He said that working with dirt grabs people’s attention.”
The company might get some benefits from the state and local government, but they didn’t say how much on Tuesday.
Powell, who graduated from Georgia Tech, mentioned that the jobs at the plant will cover tasks like high-tech manufacturing, maintenance work, and office jobs.
“Our investment in Georgia aims to foster economic growth while also prioritizing environmental stewardship. It’s important to me because it’s my home state. We’re excited to introduce a solution that helps both the environment and the economy in a place that means a lot to me.”
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