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The Larson family dairy farm in Okeechobee, Florida, partnered with Brightmark to process manure into a biogas being used to power homes.

By recycling buoys and downlines into materials for new products instead of being sent to a landfill, Brightmark and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are taking meaningful and tangible steps to aid in handling the plastic waste crisis.

Brightmark's plant in Ashley, Indiana, is the first of its kind in the US to convert plastic waste into usable products, like wax and eco-friendly fuel, on a commercial scale. The company hopes its technology can help solve the growing problem of plastic waste.

San Francisco-based waste solutions company Brightmark LLC is attacking both challenges. Today they announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a partnership to construct a commercial-scale plastics renewal plant in South Korea with Seoul-based international petrochemical company SK Global Chemical.

By 2050, there will be more plastic in our oceans than marine life. And plastic has a notoriously long life in landfills. We meet entrepreneurs discovering new ways to retrieve plastic from our waterways, turning it into fuel or back into plastic again. Others look to reduce single-use plastic in our daily lives, by working on alternative materials.

The Business Intelligence Group named Brightmark’s Ashley, Indiana Plastics Renewal Facility a Sustainability Initiative of the Year in the 2021 Sustainability Awards program. The Sustainability Awards honor those people, teams, and organizations who have made sustainability an integral part of their business practice or overall mission.

Brightmark was named honorable mention in Fast Company’s First-Ever List of the Next Big Things in Tech 2021. Brightmark received recognition for its Ashley, Indiana Plastics Renewal Facility. Through a breakthrough proprietary process, Brightmark has the unique ability to recycle all types of plastic (1-7)–including the difficult-to-recycle plastic types—which cannot readily be recycled.

Brightmark is also leading the way in educating our youth and engaging them in ocean conservation. Teaming up with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, the Brightmark team has developed classroom curriculums and activities for students to learn about and address ocean pollution issues. They have also sponsored the Frost Science Museum Volunteers for the Environment programs helping to clean up and restore south Florida shorelines.

The 2022 Northeast Indiana Manufacturing Awards highlighted some of the outstanding products created in Northeast Indiana.