Mountain Valley Recycling Plant, Kentucky, United States of America

In May 2010, Mountain Valley Recycling (MVR), a high sustainable plastic resins manufacturer, unveiled plans to set up a plastic recycling plant in Frankfort, Kentucky, US. The $9.2m facility was officially opened in August 2010 and is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. The new plant is housed in a 220,000ft² building that was previously used by Bendix, a car parts manufacturer. It will process around 90 million pellets a year.

Kentucky was chosen because of the support offered by the local and state governments. The presence of local skilled workforce was also a key driver in choosing the site.

Process

The plant uses MVR's recycling technology to process about 90 million pounds of post-consumer polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene and terephthalate waste annually.

The processed plastic is converted into 100% recycled resin. These resins have properties comparable to virgin PP and PS.

The recycling process removes contaminants such as paper, rubber and foam. Other impurities such as fabric, stickers, adhesive and metals will also be removed. The plastic will be cleaned, melted and then filtered before it is separated by resin type and colour. The resin will be sold in the form of pellets to manufacturers of plastic products.

MVR purchases the plastic required for the plant from retailers and material recovery facilities. The company uses lean manufacturing techniques to improve the efficiency of its production process and help reduce the plant's carbon footprint.

Equipment

The facility is equipped with six recycling lines, although the plant is currently running on three production lines. The lines are fitted with wash and sort lines, grinders and extruders to produce recycled resin. Advanced sorting, cleaning and pelletising equipment is also installed at the plant.

Some of the equipment will be sourced from MVR's Morristown facility, which is planned to be shut down.

Financing

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority granted $1m in tax benefits for MVR. The company can earn the incentive as corporate and wage assessment credits.

MVR was also awarded a $1m Community Development Block Grant by the Department for Local Government. This amount will be used towards purchase of equipment to install the other three lines.

Benefits

The plant is built to meet the growing demand for sustainable resins from consumer product manufacturers. The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved two types of resin manufactured by MVR for food contact.

Once the facility becomes fully operational, MVR will become the second-biggest employer in the state. About 360 jobs, with an annual payroll of $11.4m, are expected to be created by the project.

The recycled resins will also provide environmental benefits. About 50m pounds of recycled plastic resin produced by the company is equivalent to 275,000 barrels of oil in carbon dioxide emissions.

The facility will also house a water treatment plant to reduce the usage of source water.