EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrects that the Port of Port Angeles has received $4 million in grants for the Composite Recycling Technology Center as well as the date of the JEC World Conference composites trade show in Paris.
PORT ANGELES — The Composite Recycling Technology Center at the Port of Port Angeles is set for a soft opening in July and a grand opening and ribbon cutting in early August.
The nonprofit center is garnering international attention, and the ribbon cutting is expected to attract 40 or 50 high-profile guests, Bob Larsen, CEO of the composites center, told the Port of Port Angeles commissioners during a work session Monday morning.
Toray Composites America Inc., a major composites company in Tacoma, has agreed to supply composite materials for the center to begin research and development for the recycling of these materials, and also agreed to work with the center on technical and marketing developments, Larsen said.
“Great things will come from this,” he said.
The port began the process of creating the center in 2014, and has received about $4 million in grants to move forward with planning, construction and equipment purchases.
The building is expected to be ready to move equipment in July 5, with seven employees, Larsen said.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 5, and the beginning of production, with 12 employees, is expected by Oct. 1, he said.
Larsen said the composites recycling center is on target to produce positive earnings by April 2017, and is projecting a need for more space by the end of 2018.
“That’s pretty remarkable,” he said.
Interest in the nonprofit high-tech recycling research program has come from state and federal levels, and from national and international private businesses.
Larsen said the composites group was invited to present at a G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency workshop in early March in Washington, D.C.
While in D.C., they received encouragement from federal agency leadership to apply for more grant funding for the project, he said.
The project is being viewed as a good investment in D.C., he said, and added that there have been discussions centered around the construction pad already prepared next to the composites recycling building and the large amount of space nearby available for further composites development.
Port employees traveled with a statewide contingent to the JEC world composites trade show in Paris, held March 8-10.
Jennifer States, director of business development for the port, said the Port of Port Angeles is one of only a handful of locations featured on a world map of composite recycling locations, a map made available to the composite manufacturers and customers who attend the giant trade show annually.
“They were coming to the Washington state booth seeking us out,” States said.
There were a number of meetings with organizations and businesses planned for the trade show, she said, and if she was absent from the booth, many others would leave cards to schedule future discussions and meetings.
“It was time and money well spent,” States said.
