Strategic Materials' Closed Site Leaves Behind Glass Piles
Waste & Recycling | 2018-07-25 23:28:42
According to rough estimates, waste haulers have dumped nearly 13,000 tons of glass in landfills since the closure of the bottle plant in January this year.
By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The shuttered Franklin, Massachusetts glass recycling plant of Strategic Materials still holds pile of glass. The plant was officially closed June 22 on account of lack of markets for its products, following the closure of Ardagh’s nearby bottle manufacturing facility- the sole customer for the Franklin plant.
Earlier in January this year, Ardagh Group had announced its plans to permanently close its Milford, MA glass container production facility, in response to continued fall in demand from the U.S. mass beer market. The decision was part of the company’s strategy to reduce the capacity dedicated to the mass beer market and convert some of these capacities to serve strong alternative end markets.
The closure of the Ardagh facility put Strategic’s Franklin facility in deep trouble as it was the sole customer for the Franklin plant. In fact, Strategic Materials had built the plant with solitary aim-to supply recycled glass to Ardagh’s plant to be used in manufacturing process. The Franklin glass recycling plant, estimated to have annual capacity of more than 100,000 tons, had been sourcing materials from recycling programs. It finally decided to close the plant June 22, as attempts to find alternative markets ended unsuccessful.
The facility still holds glass in large quantity. The company plans to move the material to its other locations. Meantime, Laura Hennemann, vice president of marketing and communications at Strategic Materials stated that the company is in all efforts to find more outlets for glass and that it does not favor removal of glass from curbside programs. The company is optimistic about the future of glass market, notwithstanding the current challenges. Non-container segments of the market like fiber glass continue to remain strong, Hennemann added.
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According to rough estimates, waste haulers have dumped nearly 13,000 tons of glass in landfills since the closure of the bottle plant in January this year.
