New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pratt Industries CEO & Chairman Anthony Pratt opened the expanded Pratt paper recycling mill on Staten Island. The facility contains a material recovery facility and a corrugated box factory, where recycled paper can be converted into corrugated boxes.
Before the opening, Pratt was shipping material from its existing paper recycling mill to other Pratt plants for converting into boxes.
Joining Mayor Bloomberg and Anthony Pratt at the grand opening were Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, City Council Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Mike McMahon, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty and Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky.
"This expansion advances two goals that are essential to our city's future: creating new jobs and promoting environmental sustainability, which in today's economy go hand-in-hand," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The recycling that happens here is also a vital part of the city's Solid Waste Management Plan: this plant recycles approximately 1,100 tons of waste paper and old corrugated containers every day - preventing the release of 1,200 tons of carbon emissions and saving the equivalent of 17,000 trees."
"I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg. If not for his leadership, we could not have expanded our operations here," said Anthony Pratt of Pratt Industries. "He's created an environment, so to speak, which facilitates investment in waste recovery, which is a great 21st century industry for New York. We're proud to play a part in that recovery, turning waste paper into manufacturing jobs for New Yorkers."
"This expansion of the recycling plant on Staten Island is an important milestone marking the continued success of our City's paper recycling program," said McMahon. "Recycling is not only good for the environment, but is it good for our economy and is providing excellent union jobs here in our borough. We look forward to working with Pratt and the Department of Sanitation in helping our recycle program grow and flourish in the future."
Pratt Industries invested $20 million in the expansion, bringing total private investment in the site up to more than $330 million over the last decade. The mill employs 240 people, and the expansion has brought 100 new full-time jobs to Staten Island.
Each year, the plant processes 200,000 tons of recovered fiber collected from residential sources in the city, more than half of which is delivered to the facility by barge. The finished product leaves the plant by rail. The City has added a mile-long rail spur along Staten Island's western shore that directly connects the mill to the Staten Island Railroad, helping achieve greenhouse gas reductions outlined in PlaNYC as well as reducing traffic congestion and pollution. Mayor Bloomberg reactivated the Staten Island railroad in April 2007, and since then all of Staten Island's solid waste has been transported by train rather than truck, a defining feature of the City's Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP).
Pratt Industries operates more than 50 facilities across the United States employing 3,500 people in manufacturing 100 percent recycled paper and packaging.
The mill first began in 1997. The New York City Industrial Development Agency issued $120 million in tax-exempt bonds when the mill first opened.