Phoenix Technologies International LLC, a plastics recycling company located in Bowling Green, Ohio, was one of the recipients of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ annual Cardinal Award.
The award recognizes companies and individuals who wisely use and protect natural resources. The company is known for its work with food-grade PET plastics and advances in bottle recycling processes.
"It's awarded each year in the state of Ohio for stewardship of the environment." Jack Ritchie, plant supervisor for Phoenix Technologies said, "We are probably only the second corporation state wide that has been nominated for this award."
The recycling process invented by Phoenix technologies makes it possible to recycle PET bottles that are comparable to new bottles. PET bottles are made from Polyester and before the process invented at Phoenix technologies, bottles that were recycled degraded and could not be reused as food grade plastic.
Ritchie says the company hopes to recycle between 50-55 million pounds of plastics this year.
He adds that Phoenix was one of the first companies to receive a non-rejection notice from the Food and Drug Administration on using recycled plastic for food grade uses. The company's product is sold for both food grade and non-food grade applications.
Phoenix technologies began recycling PET plastics 13 years ago. According to Ritchie they started with six employees and have now grown to 70.
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