PureCycle Technologies, Inc. broke ground Tuesday, March 22 at the location of its upcoming waste purification plant at Augusta Corporate Park.
“Your team here is really quite professional and one of the best that I’ve ever worked with,” said PureCycle CEO Mike Otworth, thanking the local employees before the initial digging. “Augusta is a strategic location because it’s so close to major cities like Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah and Charlotte. We thought very carefully and did a lot of analysis of where we wanted to go next.”
Otworth, Augusta Economic Development Authority Chairman Steven Kendrick and Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. were among those in attendance at the site where construction of two purification lines is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2023, with plans to expand eventually. With those two initial lines, the facility is expected to recycle over 130 million pounds of plastic waste.
The process of such a project, noted Kendrick, entails direct connection with the state, in which Georgia presents potential locations to company. He stressed the city’s close proximity other cities, a port, Highway 5, along with its low cost of living and a “workforce that’s well-trained” as factors that led to its strong candidacy as the location for PureCycle’s second manufacturing facility.
“In the end, we were able to present the best package of items that were of interest to that organization, and at the same time bringing those jobs and that investment to Augusta,” said Kendrick. “So it’s usually that we’re looking at them and they’re looking at us; we’re looking to see if the marriage works right, and we eventually got to the altar.”
Over the course of the construction process, brush will be cleared, ditches, sewers and roads will be installed, and the facility itself will be constructed off-site, says PureCycle chief operating officer Dustin Olson. Going by a construction model used for the company’s first plant built in Ironton, Ohio, the actual plant containing the core purification technology will be later be trucked in.
Daily operations will largely consist of transporting discarded plastic waste, or feed stock, to and from the plant.
“With the initial two lines, you’re going to see about 75 to 80 PureCycle employees,” said Olson. “Five to 10 trucks a day will come and bring feed in, and then you’re going to see railcars starting to move out. Most of what we’re going to be doing is bringing the feed in by truck and railing the product out.”
The jobs opportunities will range from management-level staff to manufacturing jobs for workers just out of high school, Olson says. Among those will be a site leader and an operations manager, and then technicians to run the facility He expects the hiring will be gradual, taking between six to 12 months and in batches of 10 to 15 new hires, as the plant will have an extensive training program for employees.
“We’re going to look for employees that have got good technical acumen,” Olson said. “I don’t mean they don’t have to all be engineers. But we want people who know how to think critically about the technical aspects of the job because that’s what they’ll be doing on a day to day basis.”
Bessie Williams is the first employee of the Augusta PureCycle plant, She was hired on Jan. 24. She will be the environmental health, safety and quality manager.
“I have never been this excited working, period,” said Williams. “Their mission is so incredible. I will be responsible for the compliance work for their environmental health safety. So compliance with OSHA, DOT, EPA; helping with the quality, making sure what they’re producing is what the customers want.”
Kendrick stated that the total investment of the project bringing the plant to Augusta would be over $500 million. With 200 acres of land available for up to eight lines of production, the Orlando, Fla.-based recycler is ready to take root in Augusta.
“There’s going to be a limited number of jobs, but there’s going to be a level of position for any walk of life,” said Olson. “We’re not hiring people to turn people over every three to six years. We really want to build a community out here. And there’s a lot of good benefits, a lot of good incentives to make people pretty excited about their opportunities out here and hopefully, keep them around for a long time.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
