Connecticut City OKs Grant for Recycling Business

The mayor's Economic Development Committee voted to award Eastern Plastics a $50,000 grant to help with expansion costs.

Mayor Frank Nicastro called the Halcyon Drive firm "an outstanding corporate company in the city of Bristol."

Eastern Plastics is building a 20,000-square-foot addition, Nicastro said. He said the combined cost of the land, building and equipment will be more than $4 million.

Jonathan Rosenthal, Bristol's economic development director, said that in today's market, such an expansion is a large one. Eastern Plastics added about 10,000 square feet a couple years ago, Rosenthal said.

In 1996 when the company moved to Bristol from Plainville, the city gave Eastern Plastics a $70,000 grant to help buy the former Reynolds Aluminum Recycling Co. at 110 Halcyon Drive.

Eastern Plastics now has 146 employees, Rosenthal said, and expects to add 60 new jobs in the next five years.

"We're very pleased. We're very proud of Eastern Plastics," Nicastro said. "I'm honored to see them get this expansion."

The company won't get the city grant until the project is finished and the new space is occupied, the mayor said.

The Eastern Plastics expansion represents "a major dedication to the city of Bristol," said the mayor. He said the size of the growth "lets you know how financially strong they are."

Nicastro said the city will quickly recoup the $50,000 grant through taxes.

"In three years alone, we'll have recaptured all our money back, doubled it," Nicastro said.