PORT ANGELES — The first appointee to a Composites Recycling Technology Center board of directors wants the facility to make money within two years.
Bob Larsen of Port Angeles was named Tuesday as the Port of Port Angeles representative to direct the proposed center that could open as early as January and employ 111 family-wage workers by 2021.
The recycling center, or CRTC, in envisioned as an independent, nonprofit corporation with the port as one of its customers, not its subsidiary, said Jennifer States, the port’s business director.
“By the end of the [first year of operation], we pretty darned well have a bulletproof plan” for products and sales, Larsen told port commissioners, who voted unanimously to appoint him as their representative.
“From there, it’s a question of building on strengths, and there are a lot of strengths.”
Larsen is a retired employee of Argon National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., and founder of the startup OboTech LLC renewable-energy consulting company. He holds degrees in public policy and business management.
The plan is to begin the board with three unpaid volunteers: Larsen, a yet-to-be-named representative of Peninsula College and a composite-materials specialist who also has yet to be chosen, States said.
The board is expected to grow to as many as 13 members as the CRTC expands, she said.
The center would house Peninsula College’s advanced materials-composites classes and accept scrap carbon-fiber material from Puget Sound-area aerospace companies.
It would recycle the waste and distribute it to manufacturers, all at William R. Fairchild International Airport.
“I believe it has all the elements and foundations for real success,” said Larsen, who noted that it met environmental, educational and local economic needs.
Port commissioners Tuesday also approved a resolution to apply for state tax exemptions for the CRTC, including the sales tax for eight years for lessee manufacturing businesses and an estimated $300,000 in sales tax on its $4.3 million construction, which could begin as soon as this summer.
Larsen said the center should concentrate on manufacturers of composites products that States has identified as including snowboards, fishing rods and kayak paddles.
“What we can do that’s reasonable is to get some products out the door,” he said.
“Five to 10 of these products are low-hanging fruit.
“I think in a year’s time we will have an income stream, and some products ready to roll off into the market.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
