A Poconos plastics recycler is opening a new plant, branching out into a new market created by the natural-gas drilling taking place throughout much of the state.
Ultra-Poly Corp., which is based in Portland, Northampton County, takes recyclable plastics and converts them into pellets that can be made into new products. Most of the plastics it takes are scraps from the process of manufacturing such things as disposable diapers, garbage bags and car dashboards, although it also takes recyclable plastics ordinary people leave by their curbs. It has a plant in Bloomsburg along with its main facility near the New Jersey state line.
The company is now in the process of opening a new plant in Berwick, about 30 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre. The plant is expected to open in March. Its sole purpose is to recycle plastic geomembranes, which are used to protect the ground on drilling sites. They prevent motor oil and other waste from seeping into the ground.
Ultra-Poly VP David La Fiura says the stiff, heavy geomembranes are normally dumped in landfills even though the plastic they're made of can be recycled. “It's very dirty,” La Fiura says. “It's coated with dirt with these bulldozers. It gets wet.”
His company chose a location in Berwick because it's near where drilling is taking place in the Marcellus Shale formation. The Berwick Industrial Development Association is leasing space to Ultra-Poly. Two workers have been hired to run the plant and La Fiura expects between 20 and 30 to be hired later this year.
Source: David La Fiura, Ultra-Poly Corp.
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
