PureCycle Technologies is reaching out to help sports and entertainment industries manage their waste production by environmentally-conscious means, which could have ramifications for Augusta.
The Orlando, Fla.-based recycling company, which announced in July 2021 that it will be opening a facility in Augusta, is seeking partners for its PureZero program, which aims to help large generators of plastic waste, such as sports organizations, grow and stay sustainable.
“There are a lot of industries that generate a lot of consumer waste,” said Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle Technologies. “It typically contains a lot of polypropylene. And so pure zero is about outreach.”
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Polypropylene is one of the world’s most widely applied plastics, used to make items ranging from car parts and water pipes to bottles and food containers. PureCycle uses patented process to remove contaminants from feed stock, or discarded materials, to produce pure polypropylene.
“As we were in the process of looking and receiving different samples of feedstock, somebody sent us some stadium trash,” said Otworth. “And as it turned out, it worked great as feedstock for our process.”
Otworth notes that public venues and industries, such as amusement parks, cruise lines and sports venues, produce plenty of public waste. The PureZero program entails PureCycle joining with various organizations in order to advise them on how to acquire their polypropylene products, how to stock them, how to manage their waste and, through PureZero’s recycling services, achieve a “zero-waste footprint.”
The company has already partnered with the Cleveland Browns football team, and hopes to foster similar partnerships with local organizations in the Augusta area.
“We’ve been working with entities in Orlando successfully and making them aware of what we’re doing,” said Otworth. “Of course we’d be willing to do the same and Augusta, whether it be the Masters, or the with the city or the county. Anybody that has plastic waste that they’d like to see diverted from the landfill. We’re certainly more than willing to take their call.”
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PureCycle is scheduled to break ground on construction of its Augusta facility next month and is expected to open in 2023 with two processing lines operational by the fourth quarter of that year. Pure Cycle anticipates it will bring at least 80 jobs to Augusta, with plans for expansion.
Otworth says that those lines will be designed to produce 260 million pounds recycled polypropylene to be distributed to PureCycle’s customers across the country. Successful partnerships via the PureZero program, including, potentially, with Augusta National, would mean that workers in Augusta would be contributing local sustainability.
“I believe we have had some very initial contact with Augusta National,” said Otworth. “I think as we get closer to being able to actually accept waste stream plastic in Augusta we’ll be more active and proactive about reaching out to any entities in the community that might have needs to work with us or interested in working with us.”
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.
