The Brightmark project is the latest clean tech project to land in Georgia amid a wave of investment in the sector. This is also the second time Brightmark has attempted to build a plastic recycling facility in Georgia.
An earlier attempt in Macon ended after community pushback related to environmental concerns and worries about how diesel fuel will be one of the products created through the recycling process. Brightmark founder and CEO Bob Powell said in an interview that no fuel will be produced at its Thomaston plant.
The factory also will not burn plastics. Instead, Powell said Brightmark’s proprietary technology breaks the plastics down to its basic components for reuse as future plastic materials. Recycling reduces the need to drill fossil fuels to manufacture new plastics.
A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2022 found that some 95% of plastics in the U.S. are not recycled. Brightmark said its technology can break down and recycle plastics, including hard-to-recycle ones from industrial settings. Brightmark will also accept plastics from residential waste management companies.
Powell, a Georgia native, founded the company in 2016. The “Circularity Center,” as the facility is called, will be Brightmark’s second plastics recycling plant in the U.S. and will be able to recycle about four times as much plastic as the company’s initial center in Indiana.
The centers are part of the company’s mission to “imagine a world without waste,” he said.
“It’s really important that we be great members of the community and environmental stewards,” he said.
Credit: Special
Credit: Special
Brightmark will invest $1 million in a “Zero Liquid Discharge” system that will treat and recirculate water used in the plastics recycling process and will not be discharged into the local wastewater system or area waterways. The company will also spend $20 million in infrastructure projects to improve road, rail and utility services to the project site near the Thomaston-Upson County Airport.
The plant, Powell said, will be considered a “synthetic minor emitter,” and the company said it will use the “best available technologies to reduce emissions” and will apply for required environmental permits from state and federal agencies.
Powell said his company has been working with Thomaston and Upson officials for nearly two years to build the Circularity Center.
“Bringing diverse industries to Upson has been a priority for some time and I’m proud of our efforts to bring this project home,” Upson County Chairman Norman Allen said in a news release. “Over the last year and a half, Brightmark has demonstrated a strong desire to become a collaborative partner and responsible steward of the local environment.”
The company will be eligible for various state incentives for job creation, but figures were not released Tuesday.
Powell, a Georgia Tech graduate, said jobs at the plant will include advanced manufacturing, maintenance and white-collar roles.
“This investment in Georgia represents a commitment to supporting economic longevity and playing an integral role in building a sustainable future together in my home state,” he said in a news release. “We’re thrilled to be able to offer a circular solution that will make a positive environmental and economic impact on a region so near and dear to my heart.”
