Richmond Company Turns Wood Waste into New Products
April 12, 2010
A new product line at Crate Creations, located in the Rose City Business Park in Richmond, Indiana, will help local companies reduce waste going to the landfill and improve their bottom line. Crate Creations currently manufactures wood decorator crates for the food and beverage industry. But with the addition of two new machines, the company will be able to branch out into the bio fuel and animal bedding industries. The new machines will allow the company to pelletize recycled wood waste from local companies into the animal bedding or bio fuel products. Not only does the wood waste get recycled into new usable products, but companies no longer have to pay the cost of disposing wood waste in the landfill.
Primex Plastics is among the companies partnering with Crate Creations. Primex used to send their waste end cuts from their pallet production to the landfill. Now that waste goes to Crate Creations. According to Ken Ponder, Plant Manager at Primex, “they’ve really helped us reduce our waste going to the landfill. We’re always looking for anything we can do to help the environment and turn something from a negative into a positive.”
Crate Creations will be investing $150,000 for the new machinery and adding one new job. The EDC of Wayne County has provided an EDIT grant of $5,000 from the consolidated EDIT fund to assist in the purchase, shipment and installation of the new machinery and/or for the training of employees. Once the EDC Board of Directors approves the application, the request goes before the Wayne County Board of Commissioners for their consideration.
“Crate Creations is another great example of the entrepreneurial spirit in Richmond and we thank them for their continued investment” says Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton. Hutton adds “ I am so pleased they are manufacturing their new products here and providing a way for other local companies to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill.”
President of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, Ken Paust says “Crate Creations is an excellent example of how Wayne County businesses can collaborate and benefit from one another.”
Since January of 2009, the EDC of Wayne County, through its EDIT fund, has assisted existing businesses in the commitment to the retention and creation of over 148 jobs and provided training assistance funds to 12 companies. These projects have resulted in over $13.3 million in new investment in Wayne County. The county’s consolidated EDIT fund comes from funding provided by partnering towns in Wayne County who have agreed to provide half of their EDIT proceeds yearly for county-wide economic development. Partners in county-wide economic development currently include the towns of Cambridge City, Centerville, East Germantown/Pershing, Milton, Mt. Auburn, Richmond, Whitewater and Wayne County.