April 22, 2022
AUBURN — Before returning to Washington next week, Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, made a swing through northeast Indiana to cap off his trip home to the Hoosier state.
Braun was in Angola Thursday night for the GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner before stopping in Ashley Friday morning to tour the Brightmark facility. After a brief tour of the plastics recycling facility, it was off to Noble County and a stop at Airframe Components in Kendallville, before a roundtable discussion with Whitley County government and business leaders. The senator ended his day in Wabash.
Braun visited the plant on an off day for employees as the plastics’ recycler celebrated Earth Day.
In honor of Earth Day, Brightmark announced it had achieved the milestone of recycling four million pounds of plastic waste. The waste includes all forms of plastics types 1-7. To this day, 91% of all plastic products do not get recycled.
Bob Powell, CEO of Brightmark LLC, said in the last six months, the company has begun to ramp up production with hopes of being fully operational by the second half of this year. Once fully functional, the Ashley facility will have the capability to recycle 200 million pounds of plastics per year.
The recycled plastics are turned into renewable natural gas and other fuels.
Jay Schabel, president of plastic division, said with the rise in oil prices, the company’s phone has been ringing off the hook.
“This is a perfect example of what’s going to happen in the future,” Braun said of the need to focus on alternative ways to recycle and produce fuels. “The cleanest fuels are going to win in the long run.”
The Ashley facility currently has a staff of 60 employees, with hopes of adding an additional 20 employees in the coming months.
Schabel said the company had issues finding employees during the pandemic, but the quality workforce they are looking for is starting to seek them out. In an effort to attract quality employees, the company has recently increased it wages to help in attracting the best talent.
“In the last two months, we have found some really good employees,” he said.
Standing in front of the bails of plastics at the west end of the facility, Braun was overwhelmed by the amount of plastics the facility takes in.
“This is a wonderful project,” he said, referring to the amount of plastics the company is pulling from landfills. “I have been a conservationists and one interested in the environment for a long time. This is one of the neatest ideas, I’ve seen, where you are taking something we have been grappling with for a long time and improving the environment.”
Powell said this is the solution the country needs moving forward, in referring to the process of producing clean fuels while recycling plastics.
“We are excited about your leadership in finding great economic solutions to environmental issues and the bringing of people together is what it is all about,” said Powell.
