GROVE CITY, Ohio — PTT Global Chemical America has announced plans for a new plastics recycling facility at Grove City.
PTT and the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to locate a new recycling plastics manufacturing plant on property owned by the authority. A final investment decision will be made by the end of the year, the company said.
A separate memorandum of understanding was signed with Rumpke to supply feedstock plastics for the plant.
“We are pleased that PTTGCA has selected Ohio for their project. As SWACO continues to advance a more circular economy, we are constantly looking for ways in which materials from the local waste stream can be used to create economic development opportunities, supply sustainable businesses with materials and create new products for consumers,” said Joe Lombardi, executive director of the authority.
PTT Global Chemical America is the U.S. subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd., the largest integrated petrochemical and refining business in Thailand. It had partnered with Daelim, a South Korean petrochemical company, on a proposed ethane cracker plant at Dilles Bottom in Belmont County, but Daelim withdrew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PTTGCA often touts its parent company’s efforts to protect and improve the environment.
“Aligned with the Paris Agreement, GC Group aim to reduce current (carbon dioxide) emissions by 20 percent by 2030 on our journey toward achieving Net Zero by 2050. This project illustrates our commitment to fight climate change and contribute to a circular economy. It also reaffirms our commitment to the U.S. and the state of Ohio,” GCA CEO Panod Awaiwanond said in a news release Wednesday. “GCA is proud to partner with SWACO, Central Ohio’s resource for recycling and all waste diversion.”
The Grove City complex will be an enclosed operation to manufacture recycled polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate, a polymer resin related to polyester commonly used in products such as fabrics for clothing, food containers and resins used in manufacturing and engineering. The facility will use that substance to make unspecified products.
The recycling plant will be located in the Solid Waste Authority’s Green Economy Business Park that is being developed to encourage research, technology and manufacturing in the sustainable materials management supply chain, according to the release.
