“Recycling can be easier, and the easier it is, the more material we'll get and the more high recycling rates that we'll get”

The International Recycling Group, a local company committed to tackling the global plastic waste crisis, received a $509,000 Rail Freight Assistance Program Grant.

A boost for plastics recycling

Mitch Hecht, founder of IRG, welcomed Monday's announcement.

"It's going to be enormously helpful," he said. "Anytime you are doing large-scale funding you need to have the support and commitment of the state, local and county. This investment by the state offered by Governor (Tom) Wolf is an enormous vote of confidence in the future of Erie and the future of plastics recycling."

"I like to say we want Erie to become synonymous with plastic sustainability as Corning is to glass," said Hecht.

Erie County Redevelopment Authority’s (ECRDA) $300,000 investment will go towards the future home of the country’s largest plastics recycling plant.

International Recycling Group announced Wednesday it has been awarded a loan for more than $300,000 from the Erie County Redevelopment Authority.

In March, Erie-based International Recycling Group paid $1.23 million to purchase 25.4 acres of the former International Paper property to build what is billed as the nation's largest plastics recycling plant.

“We cleaned up a lot of Ash Street so that makes us feel good. We live in Edinboro but we come to Erie to enjoy the library, the lake, all these good things. We decided to come clean it up,” said Jonella Roudtree, Celebrating Earth Day.

“While IRG is transforming the outdated plastic waste collection model to create the first “all-plastics” recycling solution, we are also proud of the transformational milestone at an industrial site on Erie’s eastside abandoned two decades ago,” said Mitch Hecht, Founder and Chairman, IRG.

The property was purchased for $1.23 million from SB3 LLC, owned by Erie businessman Samuel P. “Pat” Black, III, and his daughter Sumi James-Black.

“The waste collection industry’s approach to recycling is outdated and increasingly out of reach, as we see fewer and fewer communities even continuing curbside recycling — last year, Lawrence Park eliminated its curbside recycling altogether.”

International Recycling Group (IRG) recently helped launch The U.S. Plastics Pact's (“U.S. Pact”) “Roadmap to 2025,” an aggressive national strategy illustrating how the U.S. Pact, IRG and fellow signatories, known as Activators, will achieve each of the U.S. Pact’s four 2025 targets…

“There’s enormous demand in post-consumer resin, and investors who understand the industry realize that there’s really enormous tailwinds towards having a large-scale regional sorting facility, or PRF,”

“What they're doing isn't exactly what our target business is," said Mitch Hecht, the founder and chairman of IRG. "But we were impressed with their social media gamification and use of digital currency to provide rewards for encouraging people to participate in recycling.”

The plastics recycling company plans to schedule the collection of plastic scrap from residents in Erie, Pennsylvania, using an app-based program.

Traditional recycling programs have failed to curb plastic pollution because the economics behind these programs don't add up. The cost to haul, sort the recyclable plastic from the non-recyclable and eliminate contaminants is often more than what the market will bear for some of the materials.

“[Erie Insurance] told me they wanted to develop the next generation of industry in Erie, and we think recycling is perfect — adding that in fact, there was a huge downstream plastics economy that could be natural customers for our recycled post-consumer resins.”

Nineteen years after International Paper Co. closed its Erie plant, a new buyer has plans for a portion of that property.

Federal Opportunity Zones aimed at jump-starting economic investment and a proposed new $100 million plastics recycling facility have brought U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s top official to Erie.

International Recycling Group, which announced plans in August to build a $100 million plastics recycling plant in Erie, is apparently moving closer to picking a location.