Dive Brief:

• Brazilian company Clodam do Brasil Ltda, operating as Florida Plastic Recycling LLC, is planning a $7 million plastic bottle recycling facility in Jacksonville, as reported by Plastics News.
• The city's access to port, rail and highway infrastructure made it an attractive site. Bottles will be shipped in and flake will be shipped out.
• The company has signed a lease for a 100,000-square-foot space and will employ about 30 people.

Dive Insight:

According to the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, which has been helping the company navigate plans for the project, both Florida and Georgia were considered as locations. Though Jacksonville's transport access, technically educated workforce and strong local recycling program were all seen as positive factors.

The city has seen increased diversion rates since Republic Services opened a new $18 million material recovery facility in 2012. Local officials have also been working with EverBank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, to improve diversion efforts during games. The latest state information shows Duval County, which includes the city, with a diversion rate of nearly 50% — not including waste-to-energy as allowed by state accounting standards.

With bottled water sales continuing to grow, the plastics industry sees this sector as a top priority and recyclers are looking for new ways to encourage more diversion. A new campaign was recently launched in North Carolina tying recycling to job creation. New facilities such as this Jacksonville operation can help further reinforce that connection and also support the push for more domestic processing capacity.