Ground was broken Tuesday on the construction of a $55 million glass recycling plant that is due to become one of the largest of its kind when operations launch in 2019.
The Pace Glass plant in sparsely populated Andover Township is being designed to efficiently sort broken glass from trash, said George Valiotis, the company’s chief executive officer.
When complete in seven to eight months, the 250,000-square-foot facility is expected to produce 800,000 tons of recycled glass each year. If successful, the plant will produce eight times more recycled glass than the company’s 1-acre facility in Jersey City. That amounts to about 6 percent of what the nation’s glass recycling plants are selling now, Valiotis said.
“Our close proximity to major cities and towns will really give us an advantage on collecting what is often destined for landfills and considered trash,” he said. “This is for the future, but we have the sales right now. We’re confident.”
The plant should employ about 150 workers, including 60 truck drivers, he said.
“Think about how many jobs that is for a community, how many families that would help,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the district’s U.S. representative.
The plant’s goal of employing locals, enhancing the impact of recycling and preserving the environment are ideal for the rural community packed with parkland, Gottheimer said. Janis McGovern, Andover’s mayor, said it “couldn’t have been a better fit.”
“People come here for our parks and our lakes, but we need some sort of business,” McGovern said. “This is a win-win.”
The 77-acre site backs up to the Farmstead Golf and Country Club and is down the street from the Rolling Hills condo complex. The street is no stranger to truck traffic, however. Braen Stone of Sparta, also known as the Limecrest Quarry, lies just across the street and once consumed the dusty, white Pace Glass site.
Importantly to Valiotis, the site abuts a railway to ease logistics. The plant also effectively fills a void in the New York City area left by Pace Glass’s main competitor and the nation’s top glass recycler, Strategic Materials, Valiotis said.
“We took an opening,” he said. “We were a pretty small company before this happened.”
Valiotis said the company cannot afford to think small and expand properly, however. Fewer, larger plants increase efficiencies, Valiotis said. Plants also need to be strategically placed near waterways or rail, he said, already eyeing California, North Carolina and the Chicago and Seattle areas for future expansion.
For now, however, Valiotis said the company is working to build the Andover facility and relationships with the region’s scrap glass buyers and suppliers. Essentially, Pace Glass grabs trucks that garbage and recycling collection companies in a 300-mile radius are sending to the landfill, Valiotis said.
To read the full story, visit https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/local/2018/05/01/55-m-glass-recycling-plant-breaks-ground-former-quarry-land-sussex-county/569872002/.