AlphaPET considers expansion
Jul 08, 2010 (The Decatur Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Copyright (C) 2010, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
A proposed $12 million expansion of AlphaPET's Finley Island Road plant would reduce its dependency on oil, reduce its carbon footprint and reduce pollution, a company official said Wednesday.
The manufacturer of the main ingredient used in clear plastic bottles, AlphaPET, in June completed construction of its $193 million plant. It employs 103 workers in its two lines.
The expansion would give the company the ability to recycle used water bottles, shredded into plastic flakes, into the PET resin needed for new bottles. It would add 12 workers to the company, increasing its annual payroll -- exclusive of benefits -- to $5 million.
Asheville vs. Decatur
Plant Manager Yash Awasthi told the Decatur Industrial Development Board that AlphaPET's parent company has not decided whether to build the expansion in Decatur or in an Asheville, N.C., plant. The parent company, Taiwan-based Indorama Ventures Public Co. Limited, is the largest PET producer in the world.
The Decatur plant produces 1 billion pounds of PET a year, making it the largest producer in North America.
The IDB unanimously approved AlphaPET's requested tax abatements. The abatements would reduce state sales and use taxes by $205,000 during construction, IDB attorney Barney Lovelace said. The board's action would abate Morgan County non-educational property taxes by $276,000 over 10 years.
Awasthi said the recycling process is more expensive for AlphaPET than its usual process, which uses chemicals derived from crude oil, but complies with its corporate environmental and sustainability policies.
"It's an initiative by the company to reduce the carbon footprint," Awasthi said. "We would also reduce emissions from the plant, so it's a pollution control measure."
Awasthi said between 10 and 25 percent of the flakes -- 100 tons a day -- would be blended into virgin resin.
Jeremy Nails, president of the Morgan County Economic Development Association, said he is looking for federal and state incentives that would convince Indorama to expand the Decatur facility instead of the North Carolina plant.
"We haven't found anything that applies yet," Nails said after the meeting. "The Alabama Development Office is helping us explore opportunities. Most incentives are used for infrastructure and utility extensions, but they're not really doing any of that now. This (expansion) mainly involves machinery and equipment."
AlphaPET began construction of the Decatur plant in January 2008. It finished its first line in September 2009 and its second line in June. During the height of the recession, it employed 480 contract employees to assist in construction.
AlphaPET employees average $45,000 in wages a year, not including benefits.
The plant is located next to BP, which is its primary supplier. BP produces PTA, a derivative of crude oil.
Lovelace said most of the plastic bottles that AlphaPET would recycle are shredded and sent to China for use in carpet fiber.
See Also: AlphaPET expansion?
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