Feasibility study would examine regional plastics processing and manufacturing facility in Colorado
Feasibility study would examine regional plastics processing and manufacturing facility in Colorado
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Nonprofit research institute Sustainable Development Strategies Group (SDSG), Gunnison, Colorado, is seeking support to conduct a feasibility study for a plastics processing and manufacturing facility in Colorado’s Western Slope region. The facility would buy recovered plastics from local recycling programs across the Western Slope.
The study design includes discussing the state of the plastics market with people working in the plastics industry, reviewing waste publications and meeting with regional economic development offices. Economic development officers agree it would be a great loss not to salvage rural recycling programs and the latent value of these materials, SDSG says.
Elyse Ackerman-Casselberry, community and economic development director for Colorado’s Delta County, says, “Although recycling has always been a struggle in our area, people are motivated to recycle, and there is a lot of potential for these materials. We have discussed the issue in depth with commissioners and in a working group and would like to hear more from prospective entrepreneurs and industry.”
Certain communities on the Western Slope have been designated as Opportunity Zones. This qualifies enterprises locating there for certain kinds of federal tax incentives. Some of these Opportunity Zones are in need of more industrial traffic on their rail lines to justify the line maintenance. Delta County features Opportunity Zones and is on a rail line.
SDSG says the confluence of these economically transitioning communities that are in need of employment and with recycling programs that are increasingly challenged economically with emerging plastics technologies creates the space for a plastics manufacturer seeking an opportune location.
The Eco-Cycle and Colorado Public Interest Research Group Foundation’s 2019 report, “The State of Recycling in Colorado,” highlights the need for more local markets for remanufacturing to make recycling in Colorado environmentally and economically efficient. This report explains how recycling businesses are poised for growth in Colorado with support from NextCycle, a business incubator designed to “improve the end markets for recovered commodities and organic materials in Colorado,” and the Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity grants program from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. These programs are outgrowths of Colorado’s solid waste diversion goals and the work of the state legislature’s Zero Waste Interim Committee.
Michelle Haynes, executive director for Region 10, a community development nonprofit located on the Western Slope, says, “Region 10 has heard from several of our communities regarding the challenges for recycling, particularly related to transportation. A regional facility would provide the means to improve recycling programs as well as create additional jobs and economic impact for the region.”
Spurred to foster economic development in recycling, different communities in Colorado are making headway on convenient curbside recycling, minimizing contamination and passing legislation for increased tipping fees for Front Range communities. The Front Range is more urban, much of it neighboring Denver, where remanufacturing industries make their homes in Colorado. However, the Western Slope, with a capable workforce, viable tax incentives and receptive local governments is fertile ground for the advent of a new plastics processing and remanufacturing enterprise, SDSG says.
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Source: Recycling Today
Feasibility study would examine regional plastics processing and manufacturing facility in Colorado
<![CDATA[Nonprofit research institute Sustainable Development Strategies Group (SDSG), Gunnison, Colorado, is seeking support to conduct a feasibility study for a plastics processing and manufacturing facility in Colorado’s Western Slope region. The facility would buy recovered plastics from local recycling programs across the Western Slope.The study design includes discussing the state of the plastics market with people working in the plastics industry, reviewing waste publications and meeting with regional economic development offices. Economic development officers agree it would be a great loss not to salvage rural recycling programs and the latent value of these materials, SDSG says.Elyse Ackerman-Casselberry, community and economic development director for Colorado’s Delta County, says, “Although recycling has always been a struggle in our area, people are motivated to recycle, and there is a lot of potential for these materials. We have discussed the issue in depth with commissioners and in a working group and would like to hear more from prospective entrepreneurs and industry.” Certain communities on the Western Slope have been designated as Opportunity Zones. This qualifies enterprises locating there for certain kinds of federal tax incentives. Some of these Opportunity Zones are in need of more industrial traffic on their rail lines to justify the…