New Project Means “Green” for Indiana

Perpetual Recycling Solutions has chosen Richmond, Indiana as the site of its next plant, bringing a $25 million investment and 55 new jobs to the city by the start of 2012.

The Chicago-based plastics recycling company is purchasing the former Amcast and General Aluminum manufacturing building at 1561 N.W. 11th St and plans a 20,000-square-foot addition to the 100,000-square-foot building.

Kevin Ahaus, Economic Development Corporation (EDC) board chairman, said Richmond competed with sites in Missouri and Iowa and another site in Indiana for the project.

The EDC of Wayne County approved a $350,000 grant that will go to the Wayne County Commissioners for final consideration today. Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton has also committed $125,000 in EDIT funds to the plant. In addition, the deal to bring Perpetual Recycling Solutions to Richmond is contingent upon RP&L granting the company about 15 acres; RP&L owns the land and prepared it for development years ago.

Perpetual Recycling Solutions will also ask the Richmond Common Council to approve a 10-year tax abatement on new machinery, equipment and real estate improvements and will ask council to serve as a conduit for $25 million in bonds related to the tax-exempt Heartland Disaster Relief Act of 2008.

EDC president Tim Rogers said Perpetual Recycling Solutions will have an annual payroll of $2 million with an average wage of $18 per hour. He said some workers will come to Richmond from Chicago but that the vast majority would be hired locally. Rogers also said the company will be a large electric consumer, purchasing close to $1 million in electricity from Richmond Power & Light each year.

When completed, the Perpetual Recycling Solutions plant will be capable of converting more than 130 million pounds of plastic food and beverage containers—the equivalent of 1 billion plastic bottles—into plastic flake and resin pellets used to make other plastic containers.