Grants will help fund glass recycling and many other materials recovery efforts in California. | safakcakir / Shutterstock
Over $10 million in cap-and-trade program dollars have been awarded to California companies that recover PET, glass and textiles.
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) on April 19 approved nearly $10.5 million in grants to California manufacturers.
The money will go to the following companies: $3 million to Gallo Glass, $3 million to Green Impact Manufacturing, $1.55 million to Global Plastics Recycling, $1.3 million to Suay, Inc., $860,000 to Innovive, LLC, and $730,000 to Strategic Materials.
The grants, which were approved by CalRecycle Director Rachel Machi Wagoner on April 19, came from California’s Recycled Fiber, Plastic, and Glass Grant Program.
The program’s goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in disadvantaged and low-income communities. The money comes from sales of greenhouse gas emissions allowances auctioned off by the state as part of its cap-and-trade program.
Cullet from wine bottles, thermoform solutions and more
According to CalRecycle documents, Gallo will use the money to install a recycling line to produce glass cullet for use in wine bottles.
Green Impact will use the money to help develop a PET thermoform recycling facility the company is opening in the Los Angeles area.
Global Plastics Recycling will use the funds to improve optical sorting capabilities and upgrade grinding and washing lines so the PET bottle reclaimer can better handle thermoforms.
Suay will use its grant to expand its used clothing repair and recycling operations.
Innovive will use the money to expand its capacity to recycle PET single-use lab animal cages.
And Strategic Materials, which operates post-consumer glass sorting and cleanup plants across the country, will use the money on a mobile trommel screen to recycle architectural and automotive glass into cullet, which will be sent to CertainTeed for use in fiberglass.
Other Golden State grants
In an announcement tied to Earth Day last Thursday, CalRecycle highlighted other recent materials recovery grant awards.
The department awarded $9.5 million to 400 local governments to support beverage container recycling and litter cleanup, $3.7 million to 21 communities to repair roads using rubberized pavement made with scrap tires, and $2 million to four businesses and nonprofit groups to support reusable products.
“As the world’s fifth-largest economy, California can show the world how to rebuild into a self-sustaining, circular manufacturing system that reduces trash pollution and ensures products get recycled and remanufactured within our state,” CalRecycle’s Wagoner stated in a press release. “The investments also boost small businesses, create income, and lower landfill pollutants that disproportionately impact the health of disadvantaged communities.”
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