Nulife Glass has officially opened its second U.S. facility and says it will take a year for the Virginia operation to start smelting leaded glass.
Replete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a video message delivered by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Nulife’s Bristol, Virginia location marked its first day of business on April 9. It is the U.K.-based company’s second U.S. outpost, joining Nulife’s Dunkirk, New York facility.
Nulife CEO Simon Greer said at the Virginia event it will be “about a year” before the Bristol site gains full approval from state and federal environmental officials to operate a glass-smelting furnace. Once approved, Greer estimates the furnace, which will mirror the one being assembled in New York, can be built in six weeks.
“We’ll have hot lead a year from now,” Greer told E-Scrap News. “We’re very happy with how things have gone.”
Greer noted the company has begun receiving glass already at the site. He noted its smelter in New York is “on track” to start running in June of this year.
Nulife, which has thus far hired one employee in Bristol, expects to hire 46 workers at the plant, a goal that has gained the support of the leader of the state’s government.
“The addition of 46 new jobs in a region that has experienced challenging economic headwinds is tremendous news,” Gov. McAuliffe said in the video aired at the opening.
As part of a reported $5.9 million investment by Nulife to open the Bristol site, the company received $300,000 in grants, including $110,000 from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund.