Press release

Brightmark Energy Breaks Ground on Nation’s First Commercial-Scale Plastics-to-Fuel Facility in Indiana

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based waste and energy development
company, today broke ground on the nation’s first commercial-scale
plastics-to-fuel plant in Ashley, Indiana. A total of 136 full time
manufacturing jobs will be created in Northeast Indiana when all phases
of the 112,000 square foot facility are operational.

The new plant will utilize a state-of-the-art plastics-to-fuel process
that sustainably recycles waste that has reached the end of its useful
life – including items that cannot readily be recycled, like plastic
film, flexible packing, styrofoam and children’s toys – directly into
useful products, like fuels and wax. Ultimately, the outputs of this
technology could also be used to produce the feedstocks necessary for
manufacturing plastic again, thus creating the world’s first truly
circular economy technology for plastics.

Brightmark Energy CEO Bob Powell welcomed attendees to the
groundbreaking and cited the need for paradigm-shifting recycling
technologies like the process that will be applied in the new plant.
“This sustainable technology directly addresses an acute problem facing
our nation: more than 91% of the 33 million tons of plastic produced in
the U.S. each year is not recycled. These products end up sitting in
landfills for thousands of years or littering our communities and
waterways. This technology offers a tremendous opportunity to combat a
major environmental ill and create positive economic value in the
process.”

The Ashley facility will be the first of its kind to take mixed waste
single-use plastics and convert them into usable products at commercial
scale. The facility will convert approximately 100,000 tons of plastics
into over 18 million gallons a year of ultra-low sulfur diesel and
naphtha blend stocks and nearly six million gallons a year of commercial
grade wax each year. BP will purchase the fuels produced by the facility
and AM WAX will purchase the wax.

Last month, Brightmark closed a $260 million financing package for the
construction of the plant, which includes $185 million in Indiana green
bonds. As part of the financing closure, Brightmark became the
controlling owner of RES Polyflow, the Ohio-based energy technology
company that innovated the process for converting plastics directly into
transportation fuel and other products.

Jay Schabel, President of Brightmark Energy’s plastics division, said,
“Brightmark plans to develop dozens of additional plastics-to-fuel
facilities across the United States, and these new locations will all be
anchored by the facility we’re breaking ground on today here in
Northeast Indiana. We’re pleased to have this opportunity to offer a
solution to the complex problems our nation faces around plastic
pollution.”

ABOUT BRIGHTMARK ENERGY

Brightmark Energy develops, owns and operates waste and energy projects
that employ technology solutions including plastics to renewable
resources and renewable natural gas solutions for its customers and
partners. Brightmark’s mission is to create significant long-term value
and a positive global impact by delivering waste and energy solutions.
Brightmark’s subsidiary, RES Polyflow, designs, manufactures and
implements commercial scale energy recovery systems that offer a
responsible end of life solution for non-recycled waste plastic. Learn
more at http://brightmarkenergy.com.